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F A S H I O N
2 0 1 2
ZOE WILLIAMS
SCARLETTE PARRETTI
LOUISE CHIM
This image is by
No. 004
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EDITOR Dennis Maloney dennis.maloney@geistmagazine.com
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
ART DIRECTOR
Leigh Keily leigh.keily@geistmagazine.com
Rob Boynes rob.boynes@geistmagazine.com
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Graham Taylor graham.taylor@geistmagazine.com
A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE We often forget that fashion is not just about the clothes. It is also about people – their creative processes, their inspirations and their perceptions. Our first issue of GEIST observes, debates and celebrates these things through the eyes of those about to enter the industry that drives their passion.
GEIST is created by a team of undergraduate students on the BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion course at the University for the Creative Arts at Rochester, guided by course academics and industry practitioners. Every page that follows has been written, styled, commissioned or directed by a student on the course, part of a creative community which thrives on collaboration and diversity, creating and communicating the stories behind the clothes, creators and culture. GEIST is a compendium of many different voices, interests, styles and creative approaches, which are as diverse as the industry in which we flourish. We translate GEIST to mean ‘spirit’.
FASHION PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Sam Haywood | sam.haywood@geistmagazine.com
Amy Yates | amy.yates@geistmagazine.com
FEATURES ASSISTANT
ART COMMISSIONING ASSISTANT
Susan Bedingfield | susan.bedingfield@geistmagazine.com
Annabell Dalton | annabell.dalton@geistmagazine.com
ART DIRECTION ASSISTANT Aine McGrath | aine.mcgrath@geistmagazine.com Editorial Team: Lydia Russell, lydia.russell@geistmagazine.com Linda Okachi, linda.okachi@geistmagazine.com Photography Team: Samia Ngeow, samia.ngeow@geistmagazine.com Cassie Walker, cassie.walker@geistmagazine.com Art Team: Samantha Wilkinson, samantha.wilkinson@geistmagazine.com Celina Hee Chung Hong, celina.hong@geistmagazine.com
CONTRIBUTORS Layla Abounour, Nicole Allan, Rebecca Allard, Torsten Lindsø Andersen, Gabriela Antunes, Natalie Atterbury, Sarah Bishop, Matthew Busbridge, Rachel Butterfill, Daisy Coombes, Hannah Coombes, Dale Crosby, Mark Cullum, Rachel Cunningham, Meonette Essi, Michael Gibb, Chihiro Gompei, Rory Harper, Annie Mae Harris, Georgia Heron, Alex Hughes, Emelie Hultqvist, Jessica Jenner, Sophie Kean, Holly Knower, Kiran Mahey, Stephanie Matti, Giovanni Martins, Lauren Mason, Jade Minchin, Kyanisha Morgan, Robbie Munn, Scarlette Parretti, Matthew Redman, Jodie Rowan, Jazmin Rickards, Hanna Smith, Hannah Smyth, Bethan Soanes, Rosanna Spain, Katie Stephens, Stelios Stylianou, Vanessa Thompson, Stefan Wetterstrand, Amy Warner, Grace Wood, Zoe Williams, Cara Wyatt.
SPECIAL THANKS TO Sheelagh Wright, Jon Cope, Francine Norris and the UCA Rochester Fashion Promotion Staff Team. Cameron Alexander, Alex Dellow, James Dunne, Janice Earl, Amer Kamal, Tim O’Sullivan, Anton Reenpää, Eeva Rinne, Rena Sala, Gemma Seager, The British Film Institute and The Turner Contemporary in Margate.
PRINTED IN THE UK BY BUTLER TANNER & DENNIS Published by the School of Creative Industries and the BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion course at the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. GEIST cannot be held responsible for unsolicited material. It is the responsibility of individual contributors to obtain relevant releases and the opinions expressed in GEIST are those of the respective contributor and are not necessarily shared by GEIST or its publishers. GEIST attempts to represent total accuracy wherever possible. Any inaccuracies should be brought to the attention of the editor via editorial.team@geistmagazine.com © GEIST Magazine, Room 204b, The University for the Creative Arts, Rochester Campus, Fort Pitt, Rochester, Kent, ME1 4DZ
OURS BEGINS HERE 004
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No. 006
Index
This magazine contains the following new fonts: Delfingade Michael Gibb michael-gibb.co.uk
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Acad Bold Torsten Lindsø Andersen www.aslope.org Photography – Leigh Keily Styling – Emelie Hultqvist and Stelios Stylianou at Un-categorized Make-up – Evan Huang using Mac and Laura Mercier Model – Kathleen @ M+P
OFC
Polo neck – Gudrun Sjoden Design Skirt – Beyond Retro Neckpiece worn on shoulder – Michelle Lowe-Holder
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OBC
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74
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Kimono – Beyond Retro
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No. 008
The Perspectives Issue Our first issue is a matter of perspective, from attitudes to Photoshop to why androgyny is such a constant in contemporary fashion. We wonder if sustainability will ever become hip, why we love our designer labels, and if the shop floor is the best place to spread religion. At a time when the creative industries are under threat from economic recession, we debate the value of internships and why something essentially unpaid is in such high demand. We also celebrate our industry’s ability to buck trends – in the face of adversity, we present a new generation of designers, creators and promoters who are finding new ways to make their mark. Views of the industry and creativity are shared with, among others, the editors of Amelia’s Magazine, Oh Comely and Betty, along with milliner Piers Atkinson, author and colour forecaster Kate Scully and new designers Valentina Poletti and Natalie Anne Moran. We examine how one creator’s views can shape another’s – countless designers have channelled Alfred Hitchcock’s women in their collections, and here we examine his influence through wider culture. There are wide influences also in our photography, where colour explodes, we look to the future, interact with environments and consider beauty as theatre. We offered our contributors an open brief for this first issue of GEIST. While there is a time and a place for typical fash-mag stock content, we soon discovered this issue wasn’t going to be it – instead we offer perspectives, from everything above right down to the love of a bicycle. Finally, we raise a glass to 2012’s graduates, with examples of the work of the Fashion Promotion, Atelier, Design and Textiles courses based at our home in UCA Rochester. Without courses like these, and the creators that emerge from them, the fashion industry would simply not be able to evolve, or continue to exist as we know it. Our first issue is dedicated to these individuals. Long may their perspectives differ.
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ANNIE MAE HARRIS
adding and removing segments like mechanical equipment.’
how the structures of some creatures lend themselves to
between natural and industrial structures, investigating
‘A series of pencil drawings looking at the similarities
rachel.r.cunningham@hotmail.com RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
Time to change
Rachel Cunningham, Pencil Drawing, Glasgow School of Art
No. 010
Sustainability leads to an immediate perception. The process of manufacturing products in an environmentally friendly and ecological manner using introduced methods such as organic raw materials, recycled and reused textiles, removing the usage of harmful chemicals, fair trade, decent working conditions, and making products last longer so less is consumed. But whether it is a lack of interest, restricted knowledge or a negative assumption relating to the quality and appearance of products, the term simply does not appeal to the public. The considerable divide between sustainable and mainstream fashion often leads to ethical alternatives becoming disconnected from the annual conventional fashion shows, launches, clothing ranges and other media. It is questionable as to why the prospect of producing clothing in an environmentally friendly manner or acquiring a diversity of sustainable options to work with is lacking
and Ciel, there has not been a substantial development and this needs to be examined in order to have an impact on the public. McCartney continues to explain this factor, claiming: “I wish I could list you a million heroes in the fashion industry, but unfortunately I can’t think of many.” An investigation into existing marketing strategies has confirmed that, rather than sustainable campaigns failing to convey the issues and solutions into encouraging ethical lifestyle choices, it is in fact the lack of knowledge and awareness of the subject that causes these methods to be ineffective. Sustainability is often promoted to influence consumer guilt and fear of not acting and, therefore, immediate negative assumptions are created, along with publicised associations. An example of this was discovered when participants in a survey were asked to distinguish H&M’s ethical Conscious Collection range from its mainstream garments. Without any indications, the task instantly converted participants’ current assumptions of sustainability, resulting in 62% speculating a guess. Of the 50 participants, 94% incorrectly identified the ethical garment, selecting the simple, pale and natural tones in contrast to the brighter and colourful embellished garment, thereby emphasising their current perceptions of ethical alternatives. This concept was developed further into exposing the subject’s absence from current schooling curriculums, specifically those studying
‘Whether it’s a lack of interest, restricted knowledge or a negative assumption relating to the quality and appearance of products, the term sustainability simply doesn’t appeal to the public’
“As consumers, we have a choice. We may ask what impact our choice can make. But if we consider all our lifestyle choices, from the car we drive and the coffee we drink to the clothes we wear, we can see that we really do have the power to effect change.” Janet Hethorn and Connie Ulasewicz (2008)
WORDS: GEORGIA HERON 010
in the promotional skills to inform or instruct individuals to change the industry for the better. However, at present, the promotional strategies used to increase an awareness of the subject are still limited, although sustainability continues to be encouraged in today’s lifestyle choices. A commitment from both the fashion industry and the general public is required for a sustainable progression in production, consumer consumption and even individual perceptions. Fashion designer Stella McCartney has said that, in order for ethical fashion to become mainstream, it is just as much the consumer’s responsibility as it is the journalists’ and buyers’. McCartney, a lifelong vegetarian, craves to source alternatives to animal products and uses her fashion label to alert consumers to their clothing options before purchasing. Using her reputation and status within the public eye, McCartney utilises her celebrity influence to also encourage others to support the cause. Although there is an increase in ethical collections formulating an awareness of sustainability, for example, Annie Greenabelle, Kuyichi
the fashion industry; thus, confirming society’s limited knowledge and resistance to change. Undoubtedly, the next generation of industry leaders should also be targeted via education to progress to today’s 21st-century practices. However, the overall challenge of studying independently with limited resources and the seeming lack of opportunity below postgraduate degree standard might hinder this transformation. As well as informing consumers of their options, limiting consumer choice will allow individuals to experience the sustainable lifestyle, while the product itself reinforces the benefits and qualities of the cause. For example, tote bags continue to increase awareness while simultaneously providing durable bags that can be traded when worn. Consumers are expected to reuse these bags for other shopping purposes rather than discarding the original plastic bags. While this does prevent consumer choice, it ensures the consumer takes part in the gradual process towards a sustainable future. It is evident that society is concerned with the existing environmental issues and, with an increase in awareness and education, the disassociation of negative connotations may enable the progression of sustainability to be embraced. By integrating ethical alternatives into consumer consumption and expanding the opportunities to experience the movement, individuals will become more familiar and motivated to aid the cause while consciously understanding the benefits for change, both for the environment and themselves.
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IMAGE RETOUCHING - ROBBIE MUNN
No. 012 An innovative new computer program has been designed that can tell to what extent a picture has been airbrushed, Photoshopped or otherwise altered, raising the controversial issue of
image manipulation again. What implications does it have for the fashion industry? GEIST investigates, and spoke to photographers and retouchers to get their views
WO R D S : K YA N I S H A M O R G A N
A new technology has been developed that can determine how much images have been digitally altered. Its creator Dr Hany Farid, a Computer Science professor at Dartmouth University, became intrigued with photo enhancement after reading about possible advertisement proposals that are to happen here in the UK and across Europe. Between Dr Farid and PhD student Eric Kee, they created software that can determine how much an image has been altered on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being ‘infinitesimal’ (barely altered) and 5 being ‘fantastic’ (beyond recognition). To create the program, Farid and Kee had to create an algorithm taken from the answers hundreds of people gave on ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures. The findings were used to train the software. This new software is sure to cause a stir, especially when it comes to advertising campaigns and fashion editorials. Former talent agent and marketing executive Seth Matlins and his wife Eva are the founders of the online magazine Off Our Chests. The couple have created a proposal called the Self Esteem Act, which would mean that photos that have been enhanced would be labelled. It states in their pitch for their petition that 51% of nine-to-10-year-old girls feel better when dieting and by the time they are 17, young girls will subconsciously through advertisements feel pressured to achieve an unreachable body size
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and be a decorative, sexualised object. The Matlins are in full support of the software, comparing drastically altered images to avatars. “Were just after the truth in advertising and transparency.” It seems that they aren’t the only worried people, as president of the Girls’ Schools Association, Dr Helen Wright, wants to start self-esteem lessons for children starting as young as five to deal with the constant bombardment of drastically altered images. According to Dr Wright, a modern child will see more “physically perfect” images in a day than her grandmother saw in her whole adolescence. Dr Wright also said there is a pressure on girls to represent
Photo Shop themselves in a certain way. You begin to feel it’s normal because it’s all around. Meanwhile, Nikki Hutchinson, author of Body Image In The Primary School, says she had heard girls as young as six saying that they wanted to be thin and “hot”. So have magazines, brands and their photo retouchers taken things too far? Members of the public took a survey regarding the topic; when asked if they felt advertisements portrayed unattainable beauty, two thirds of people answered yes. While members of the public said they felt pressured to look a certain way, others felt that beauty advertisements and fashion campaigns gave them
something to aspire to, even though they were airbrushed. Whether these images are fuelling insecurities or aspirations, how many of them are altered? Michael, a photographer and retoucher with previous model agency experience, says: “Many of these models really honestly do look like how they do in the pictures. The fashion industry literally scours the entire planet looking for models and only the really best of the best become top models. Is it really so hard for people to imagine that out of nearly 3.5billion women in the world there are a few each year who seem to match every (western) ideal of beautiful?”
According to professional retoucher Tamara, editing is normally carried out due to distortion caused by the camera and its lens, and that, ironically, she spends most of her time fixing photos where the subject has had plastic surgery to make the images look more natural. However, there are cases of extreme Photoshopping that have caused a lot of controversy over how much the image has been distorted, so the model looks younger or thinner. But can retouchers and magazines really be to blame? People are very quick to judge, and that is exactly what would happen to a model even if they weren’t Photoshopped: people would instantly pick out and dissect the image.
“Because magazine sales are so dismal, editors are trying to come up with special covers that will really appeal to someone standing in a checkout line. They’re playing around with background colours and faces. They’re tending to swap heads with bodies because they’re looking for an expression that shows the essence of the magazine,” says Tamara. If this program is made readily available and the beauty and fashion industries are to use it, how is it going to affect jobs? Bookers could suggest that it would put a lot of pressure on the model industry as it would result in the girls having to look perfect and immaculate all the time. Adam, a stylist, suggests: “From a stylist’s perspective it would make the job harder and would take more time. More money would be spent, due to creases made in the clothes when the models have moved, or if clips are in view in a really good shot. Stylists don’t rely on retouching but, sometimes, it can really help make the shot if certain things are brushed up and lighting can be altered, as colours can be lost in photos.” Either way, both sides show that physical appearance is still a controversial and taboo topic, but is it wholly the fault of the beauty and fashion industries? Have they taken things too far? Or are they just wanting to create images that can be perceived as inspirational and which have an aspect of fantasy? Is it our own cynicism that could be classed as fanatical, or our own personal insecurities?
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No. 014
Mixed message You gotta have faith, right? But is it possible to place any trust in Forever 21’s Biblequoting clothes given the largely secular nature of fashion – and the need to make huge profits? GEIST cuts through the cynicism and finds that it all comes down to a matter of choice
WORDS: SOPHIE KEAN
It’s not unusual to see a link between religion and fashion these days, with an increase of religious symbols and slogans appearing on clothing and jewellery. You can see it all over, from high street stores with clothing bearing the word ‘faith’ to celebrities wearing rosary beads and crosses as accessories, even if they don’t believe in the religion behind them. Even catwalk designers are creating pieces based on ideas from traditional religious clothing. In these cases, it’s generally seen as acceptable – so what’s so different about high street store Forever 21? There has been a lot of attention paid to Forever 21 recently, as it has started selling tops with religious words and phrases on them, including ‘Jesus loves you’, ‘Enjoy God’ and even passages from the Bible, such as, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ The Chang family, which owns the brand, are hardcore Christians who go to church every morning, but should they be allowed to reflect their faith through the clothing they sell? They’ve always included their faith in the company, as the Bible reference John 3:16 is printed on the bottom of the store’s carrier bags, often going unnoticed by customers – or not seen as a big deal. But the message on the carrier bags is a lot smaller and much more discrete than the slogans seen on the shirts. Some customers feel as though the brand is trying to shove religion
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down their throats, and that the Changs are trying to make their customers adopt their beliefs. Rachel Kane, owner of American blog WTForever21, has compared walking into the store and seeing all the messages on items of clothing to going to church on a Sunday and being forced to start praying. There are many similar views, but it may be due to the fact that they aren’t accustomed to religious views being presented in their favourite clothing stores. At the same time as attempting to present their views, the brand is also trying to remain relevant to the majority of other fashion trends in order to keep up with the other brands on the market. However, this starts to contradict the message they are trying to put across as a company, because although they may produce a T-shirt with the words ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you’, they also sell an extremely similar top with ‘Do what you want’ emblazoned across it, in an even larger font than the former. Not only that, but there are also tops that wouldn’t exactly be classed as modest, with low necklines, wide armholes and lace backs, all showing plenty of the wearer’s skin. Some of these tops have the aforementioned religious messages plastered on them. How’s that for hypocrisy? But on the other hand, the choice is down to the customer as to what they purchase. The store may be selling tops that contradict each other, but ultimately, the customer only walks out with the one that carries the slogan they believe in. People are often afraid to stand up for their beliefs, but Forever 21 could be seen as offering Christians a way of expressing their faith through fashion. Forever 21 might be applauded by some for its courage in using clothing as a statement of its beliefs. The message is out there, and it’s yours for the taking – if you want it to be yours.
WORDS: MARK CULLUM Streetwear has exploded onto the scene this season, little wonder considering the likes of Tinie Tempah and Kanye West have got involved. GEIST explores new directions in urban fashion
Wyatt Cara Styling
Model - Emmanuel at AMCK
URBAN MALE
Photography - Anton Reenpää
Forget celebrity icons and the high street for a moment – we are seeing a new age of urban fashion injecting itself into the world of designer brands. Though the niche factor is still apparent, we are beginning to see more urban styles and influences on the runways across the globe, which forces the question: just where is urban fashion heading? Earlier this year, the fashion frenzy at Somerset House was buzzing under the flashes of photographers’ bulbs as the impeccably – and often absurdly – dressed characters marched their own cobblestoned catwalk. A rich mixture of high street and designer fashions often paired with urban and streetwear labels epitomised the strength of individuality that’s synonymous with London style. The external circus, however, did not detract from an extensive offering of urban fashion collaborations that literally stepped onto the runway for the autumn/winter 2012 shows. Menswear designer Shaun Samson teamed up with Timberland for his footwear and we saw Lou Dalton present her collection with Dr Martens. Cat Footwear collaborated with James Long and Martine Rose for their shows, while Christopher Shannon debuted his five-piece collection with Kickers on the runway. Even across the pond at New York Fashion Week, footwear brand Palladium – which has worked with hip-hop artist Pharrell Williams – featured special editions on the runway for Richard Chai’s menswear collection. Urban fashion’s deep-rooted connection with music icons is even beginning to shift slightly. With artists such as Tinie Tempah and Kanye West gracing a couple of front rows at London Fashion Week (as well as the latter’s own design effort at Paris Fashion Week last year),
we can see a modern merging of the two worlds: urban and designer. In light of this, we are almost prompted to wonder whether or not this is a good thing. Were these two realms always meant to be separate, or is the recent power of collaboration and new ventures just too strong to ignore? Perhaps, in time, everything will revert back to the way it was – musicians will be musicians, designers will be designers and collaborations will regain that non-diluted and exclusive appeal. Whether or not we choose to dismiss these developments or lap them up, the world of urban fashion is definitely starting to see some significant changes.
Taking inspiration from the streets and surfaces of London, Matthew Miller – who recently showed at London Fashion Week’s menswear day – took pieces of the city with him and transferred it onto his clothing. The designer photographed interesting surfaces, from foliage to graffiti-clad walls, and turned these images into very bold, urban-inspired prints that we saw in suits, shirts, rucksacks and even footwear that was made in collaboration with Oliver Sweeney. The most innovative feature of Miller’s autumn/winter 2012 collection is the ability to locate the exact source of the prints either from the QR codes attached to the garments or on the designer’s website, where you will find the original images, maps as well as geographical co-ordinates. This approach allows one to recreate the designer’s own journey to see the physical, and perhaps ephemeral, sources of inspiration. Such a journey would undoubtedly reveal our city into a new light, and will certainly have us thinking twice about the meaning of urban fashion. Miller’s treasure map-like example at least demonstrates that urban fashion is not just about past references, music icons and avoiding the mainstream. Not only is this a way to bring urban fashion in the capital into the digital age, which seems like an inevitable direction for almost everything these days, it also shows that there are many layers to this style movement. This really does prompt the question ‘what is urban fashion?’ as Miller’s creative yet literal dissection seems to have strayed far from the original reference points. Or could his bold and loud prints – that one could deem rebellious in nature – simply be another reinterpretation of what has always been?
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WORDS: SUSAN BEDINGFIELD
The controversy surrounding unpaid fashion internships shows no sign of going away. GEIST investigates whether they’re pure exploitation – or if they provide the only realistic way of getting a foothold in the industry
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d a l e n o t j a s o n . t u m b l r . c o m
FASHION Slave to Slave to FASHION ? Slave to FASHION
ILLUSTRATION BY - Dale Crosby Close, Kingston University London
No. 016
The curtains have fallen on another spectacular London Fashion Week. A week in which the industry’s elite turned out to view the highly anticipated collections of the world’s most talented designers. A week overflowing with outstanding shows, glamorous people and lavish parties. It’s nothing less than we’ve come to expect from the world of fashion so it isn’t surprising that year after year thousands of youngsters in the UK are enrolling on fashion courses up and down the country, hoping to fulfil their dream and become part of the fashion world. But what they come to discover can often be the polar opposite to the luxurious industry they perceived.
Fashion internships have been a cause of controversy for years now but have recently come under more scrutiny than ever after HM Revenue and Customs issued 102 fashion houses that show at LFW cautionary letters in December 2011 warning them against exploiting interns and urging them to “put things right now and avoid a penalty and possible prosecution”. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also had his say on the subject. Speaking out to the country’s fashion labels, he showed support for the HMRC’s announcement and strongly urged designers to make sure they are treating interns fairly. So did the warnings have any effect on the running of the country’s fashion houses in the lead up to London Fashion Week? Has the treatments of unpaid interns improved or is it not as bad as the media has led us to believe? In the midst of the ever-burning debate, GEIST spoke to past and present UCA students to ask about their experiences and discover their take on the issue. Are interns merely slaves to fashion or are they just taking the first steps up the ladder of a fiercely competitive industry? A second-year Fashion Design student at UCA Rochester spent four weeks interning at a very well known and admired fashion house in the run up to their eagerly awaited autumn/ winter collection. “We literally were worked to the bone – there were times when I would prick my finger on the needles and would start bleeding, but the main concern was that the fabric wasn’t marked,” she laughed. The experience, she claimed, was without doubt the most hectic and tiring of her life, working from 7am to 7pm in the designer’s studio in London. One of 20 or so interns who were cutting, embroidering and embellishing
pieces to an impeccable catwalk-worthy standard night after night, she is surprisingly extremely positive when reflecting on her experience. “I didn’t realise just how much hard work would be involved but I actually really miss it already,” she said when we met up with her less than a week after the show, which has proved to be one of the most praised and admired collections of the full season. “The experience I have gained and the skills and knowledge I have learnt about the fashion industry in four weeks is more than I could ever expect to be taught sitting in a classroom. It was extremely hard work but the satisfaction I got watching the models walk down the catwalk in dresses that I had been a part of creating was worth every bit of the sleep deprivation and complete lack of social life. Working for one of my favourite designers also made the experience a lot more enjoyable, the fact that I loved the pieces that I was working on and was really excited to be a part of such a fantastic collection also made a huge difference.” So what was the designer like; does she actually know the people that are part of her team? “To be honest, we didn’t actually see much of her. She spent a lot of time in her office upstairs and any time she did come down to see how we were getting on it was the pieces she was more preoccupied with, not the people making them. We used to joke that all she did was sit in her office eating and sleeping but I’m sure she did more than that! She was a complete perfectionist which I think comes with being an amazing designer, but it didn’t make our lives any easier. She would often change her mind about the fabric or design of a piece and we’d have to start from scratch, resulting in hours of hard work going to waste, they even changed their mind about a dress the night before the show, which was unbelievably hectic but she knew what they were doing.” Were the interns actually thanked for their hard work? “We were all thanked at the after party, which was really nice, but before the show it was just all about getting the collection completed. You become sort of faceless. Your job is to create the dresses and get on with the next one, there isn’t any constant praise for the work we were doing.” How do you feel now seeing the pieces that you were part of creating being sold for thousands of pounds, knowing that you were not actually paid anything?
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FASHION FASHION FASHION 018
“It is a little bit disheartening. There was no expense spared when it came to the materials, even for the trial designs that were just put in the bin, but I suppose the money they spend on the materials is saved on the cost of the labour. “It would be nice if the public realised just how much the fashion intern is part of creating the collection, but this is just how it is,” she continues. “You soon learn that to survive as a fashion intern you shouldn’t expect praise or appreciation.” It isn’t just fashion designers who rely heavily on interns. PR companies, event organisers and fashion publications all use unpaid interns in the daily running of their business. A UCA Rochester Fashion Promotion student who interned in a fashion PR agency over London Fashion Week may have had quite different experiences to working with a designer, but long, unpaid, unsociable hours was also a part of the role. She says: “I worked from 9am until around 7 to 8pm in the weeks running up to Fashion Week alongside the PRs, helping with all the administration work. I was responsible for sorting out and posting all of the invitations with the four other interns in the office. When the actual shows started I dealt with the guest list and seating as well as helping to set up the venue before the show started.” What did she learn from her internship and does she think it was a valuable experience? “This was my first experience of public relations,” she says. “I have definitely learned a lot about PR and how the fashion industry works. I know a lot more about what is involved and from that have developed a much clearer idea about the career I would like to pursue when I finish university. Although it was a fantastic experience and a great addition to my CV, my internship has made me realise that PR is actually not for me. I think that’s what work experience is all about, getting a foot into the industry and seeing how it works. If I had not interned there I would not have known that.” The opportunity to test out different aspects of the industry without committing to a long-term contract is clearly a positive aspect of fashion internships. What does she think about the warning from HMRC regarding unpaid internships? “I didn’t get paid but I think there would be a lot less opportunities for students to experience the industry if companies were required to only provide paid internships. If I had not completed my internship I wouldn’t know that a PR career is not for me.” Her story is a common one; and, equally, many people found the experience to confirm their future career paths. What about past students, though – did interning contribute to their intended career? Amber graduated from UCA with a degree in Fashion Promotion. She has since gone on to work for some of the UK’s leading fashion PR companies and in October last year established her own company. I asked Amber how important interning was in securing her dream job. “I started interning from the age of 16. I knew that I wanted to work in fashion from an early age and interning was the only way to gain experience. I worked with designers, buying departments, consumer magazines and in PR agencies. I loved gaining work experience and ultimately it made me realise what area of fashion I wanted to work in,
so once I was at university I could focus on my PR career.” Did Amber know even before she started university exactly which path she wanted to go down? “Yes, I was lucky as I grew up in London so it was easier for me. I wasn’t paying rent so I was able to work for free. I would say though that even if you don’t get paid try and look at an internship as more of an education than a job. Work experience provides you with so much. You learn to work with different people in different environments and you meet some great people, many of whom I work with now. You will eventually reap the rewards.” Internships can help provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the ferociously competitive fashion industry. They can direct you down the career path you wish to pursue or highlight the ones you don’t. They can also give you invaluable contacts and impressive references and can make more of an impact on a CV than just a qualification could. Perhaps the HMRC’s warning to fashion labels against interns has not had quite the effect that they anticipated – the fashion businesses still expect long hours and hard work from unpaid interns but this does not deter the thousands of people who are willing to give up their time for free every day to become one. A career in fashion is highly desirable and is a difficult one to crack. With so many people desperate to be a part of the industry it is no surprise that interns are unpaid as so many are willing to do the job for free. Working for nothing is not ideal, especially in such an expensive city as London, but for those who have enough passion and determination to work in the industry they will do all they can to gain the necessary experience, even if it means working more than two jobs to survive. A job in fashion is not going to be handed to you on a plate and it usually takes more than just a certificate to impress the right people. But those who want it enough will do all they can to stake a place in the industry.
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No. 020 The aesthetic concept of androgyny in fashion is one constantly debated and referenced. Used sweepingly for a look that poses an individual’s gender as ‘ambiguous’ is one common connotation attached to the androgyny notion, especially in a commercial context. One common response the actor Tilda Swinton faces when observed in the public eye is to be stereotypically dubbed as ‘androgynous’ looking; this often happens when habitual gender notions are challenged by outside abnormalities.
BENDING GENDER
Delving into the history of androgyny and the Androgene, GEIST asks – is it simply a tale of boy meets girl?
WORDS - JODIE ROWAN 020
Androgyny has had its moments throughout the centuries in many different guises. Never has it been more prevalent arguably than now, where the ambiguity of a model’s gender is commonplace on the catwalks and in fashion magazines on an international scale. The stereotypical gender dress codes and roles have been bending and mutating to form something that reaches beyond the strict archetypes of Dior’s ‘new look’ silhouette or a man in a suit; and more often it fuses the two together, which is often showcased quite literally in the work of Yohji Yamamoto. We need only look at the popularity of models Andrej Pejic and Jamie Bochert to demonstrate the extent to which an androgynous ideal has been reached. Is there something deeper to the boy-girl, girl-boy muddle as a contemporary aesthetic vision? Many have posed the argument that the appeal of androgyny is appraising oneself narcissistically within the opposite sex. This may be why fashion has embraced androgyny as not only a legitimate style but also a commercially marketable tool by tapping into this burgeoning attraction for the sexually ambiguous. Androgene means to have both male and female sexual characteristics, to break it down aner (man) and gune (woman). Owing its origins to myth and religion, the concept goes back as far as Greek and Indian mythology, as well as playing a significant role in Christianity. The Androgene was often cast as the symbol of supreme identity in most religious systems.
It went beyond physical attributes and persisted tactically in the sphere of politics. The Roman Empire encouraged Androgenes in their armies, appearing as a blend of severity and mercy. The tradition of the hermaphrodite as a ruler went back as far as Assyria. Roman emperors sought to strengthen their ideological hold on peoples where the Androgene had cult status. In African religions, as in ancient Egypt, androgyny is a common trait of creator gods. The first ancestors are Androgene since they alone give birth to their stock. Looking at author and commentator Germaine Greer’s critique on the use of a boy’s beauty may touch on the seductive nature of the boy/girl synergy in contemporary culture. Conventional wisdom has it that in visual culture the female body, not the male, is viewed as the primary object of desire. Greer argues that until the 19th century the image of the female body was not drawn from life but constructed on aesthetic principles. The naked body that was instead studied and portrayed with in such beautiful immediacy in hundreds of guises was that of the boy. Greer highlights the significance of the use of young boys in pre-19thcentury art, before a time when it was acceptable for women to be sitters. Here, boys were the next best thing – encompassing female physical traits in their softness, purity and delicacy, but delivered in a male form. When it came to depicting Eros, Cupid, martyrs – typical religious Androgenes – boys offered the perfect proportions of femininity and masculinity to draw from due to the ease of desexualising their physicality. Artists drew the boys nude and then, to make Madonnas of them, blurred their contours and covered them in heavy drapery. Female nudes were modifications of the young male, with added breasts and subtracted genitals. One such example of this is in Caravaggio’s Love Triumphant, an image showing a young Cupid (a well-acknowledged Androgene) awkwardly positioned and fully exposing his genitals. The image is an archetypal image of boyhood, playful, sexual; or innocent and vulnerable (feminine), perhaps, in the awkwardness as opposed to his blatant nakedness being superficially read as outward seduction. In a more contemporary context, film-maker Derek Jarman used the gender archetype and spun it on its head in typically nonchalant rebellious fashion, by using a female sitter to model the young Cupid. In his 1986 film Caravaggio he was revealing the fundamental illusion of pre-19th-century artwork that demonstrated androgyny by showing the real gender of the subject from which the artwork was born. Therefore here is an image that is quite literally a fusion of the two sexes from the opposite angle of that of the pre-19th-century artist’s: here the girl is contorted to be the male. There is always a sense of smoke and mirrors in Jarman’s work, which relates so fluently with Caravaggio’s own method of working. The final image is never as it seems with both artists, which is obviously highlighted here in the scene when Love Triumphant is being painted, an image that portrays the ultimate mischievous boy, masked from a female sitter. What does this say of the modern-day representations of both genders in sheer ease of physical transformation from boy to girl, girl to boy as Jarman has showed? Perhaps it is the stage of adolescence when an androgynous look is most apparent in both genders, on the cusp of physical adult development. It may lie in its ephemerality, or perhaps the association of desexualisation and innocence makes us nostalgic for a purer, less complicated life, which ironically is a common explanation for anorexia. Or maybe we’re all still longing for spiritual enlightenment, a physical liking to our divine ancestors, the Androgenes.
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MODEL – LILI @ STORM
HAIR AND MAKE-UP – LUKA WATABE
GARMENTS – MELANIE ANAYIOTOS
STYLING – JODIE ROWAN
PHOTOGRAPHY – EEVA RINNE
No. 024
‘I LOVE THE ID EA O F H AVI N G A HAT THAT YOU HAV E TO PLU G I N TO T H E WALL’
PIERS ATKINSON 024
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SW: You have been involved in a variety of creative fields. Do you feel this gives you a greater understanding of design? PA: I think it helps give you a well-rounded overview. We understand clothes from the point of view of shoppers, but when I was working with Zandra Rhodes in her design house I would think about the practicality of making them. Going on to then work in PR meant I learnt what fashion editors were looking for from designers; you learn what the hook is and why one pair of jeans is more exciting than another. When I was a fashion editor I then learnt about why certain brands are more suited for a specific market. It’s also helped me to understand why brands get the press they do. I feel that as a designer now, I’ve learnt an alternate angle on press; it’s outrageous stuff. There are the more practical, conservative issues also as a designer, which is getting sales. So definitely, it has given me a great understanding. Being involved previously with press, design and fashion publishing has given me a good overview of what was required of me in my first collection. SW: Is there one job that you’ve done that you would love to go back to, or one you enjoyed most? PA: It was really fun working for the artist Andrew Logan. That was really great
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because it was daring and exciting, he is such an amazing personality. Being a student was also really good fun – I was a student for a long time. You have so much free time but maybe that’s being young more than anything else. At the moment I’m basically the boss, which is great. I like being the boss, only because if I make mistakes I’ve only got myself to answer to.
PORTRAITS - LEIGH KEILY
Since launching his first collection of hats in 2008, milliner Piers Atkinson’s sometimes controversial, always delectable creations have taken the fashion world by storm. He’s designed for the likes of Lady Gaga, Kate Moss and Rihanna, and his pieces frequently light up the pages of Vogue and Tatler. He tells Samantha Wilkinson about balancing a strict work ethic with an outrageous design aesthetic
SW: What do you feel underpins your ongoing success throughout your career? PA: Hard work and long hours. Also, being professional is very important: professionalism, reliability and meeting deadlines. I think that being a nice person, or at least trying to be, is important. Fashion has a real reputation for rat bags. I think it’s less true now than, say, 10 years ago, but maybe that’s because I’m a designer now. You don’t need to be a bitch to be successful. I think my success in millinery is because of being in the right place at the right time; for example, the right person at Vogue saw my hat on the right day. All of those things integrate into you becoming more established and more successful. SW: Can you sum up your design aesthetic in three words? PA: Pop. Witty. Wearable. SW: Which collection best describes your personality? Do you feel that your collections reflect who you are as a person? PA: Yes, they reflect my moods, and my feelings at the time. I really love each collection for different reasons; I think doing a collection is almost like looking at an aspect of my feelings or personality. There’s something very fresh about the first collection with the pom-pom ears, the second one was me being an absolute lunatic, and I love the doll one because it was really funny and camp. SW: Do you have a favourite collection? PA: I don’t have a favourite collection. You do a collection, love it, and then have to produce it to buyers; so by the end of the season you’re making it all. I couldn’t glitter another bug! We’ve glittered so many bugs from the last season. We’ve moved onto more sophisticated tonal hues now, and started to produce that. You kind of go back and forwards with how you feel about collections. SW: You make use of controversial materials in your creations. What inspires you to select a specific material and experiment with it? PA: I think because I’ve worked in window display, costume and theatre. Then also working with Andrew. He is very influential and had a ‘just do it’ attitude, which influenced me. Working with props means I had access to what you call trims. Traditional milliners don’t necessarily think about putting that on a hat; having worked in millinery they’ll be thinking about feathers and flowers. When I put the neon on the hat, I was just thinking about the most attention-seeking material in the world to put on a hat. We all know Vegas is full of lights and neon’s for a reason, it’s to grab attention, so that’s why I put neon on the hat. I love the idea of having a hat that you have to plug into the wall, I just love that. SW: What would you say has been your favourite material to work with? PA: When you come to hats, the base is generally felt or straw; some are nicer to work with than others. Then, for the trim on top, we use a lot of laser-cut perspex and fake fruit. I have to say – and this is a very boring, traditional
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answer – but I love silk flowers on hats; I love them. I like the way you can look at hats just to see feathers and flowers, they look absolutely gorgeous. Flowers or neon, one or the other.
PHOTOGRAPHY - JEZ TOZER
SW: How long can it be expected to take from generating ideas to a finished product? PA: We were lucky to be commissioned by Italian Vogue yesterday. They sent us some ideas and by the end of the day we’d finished it; we had six of us in the studio. Other things take a long time. The neon took a long time, as you can imagine, working out how to affix it to the hat. Some things that you think are going to be really easy are really complicated, some things take a lot of trial and error; but you can safely say one or two days, believe it or not. SW: What is your proudest moment, career-wise? PA: As you know I teach a bit, so when a student makes a breakthrough and finally sees the light, that makes me very proud. Having my business also, and being able to pay my staff makes me very proud. I think two things really that rock my boat is being involved in the V&A exhibition, curated by Stephen Jones. Then, seeing my first press in Vogue with the neon hat. That made me sit up and take it millinery seriously, because I was only doing the hats as a sideline, so it made me think about it more seriously. SW: Was that the Nick Knight editorial from December 2008? PA: Yes, everything about it was great. The model was an amazing girl. Nick Knight is also an amazing photographer and the stylist was great too; the whole line-up. I couldn’t believe my name was there with all those people. But it still happens all the time now, we get amazing private clients or American Vogue, it’s really amazing. And the fact that we’re starting to sell in new countries around the world… it’s quite fast! I’m knackered. SW: You lecture at UCA, Rochester. What do you get from teaching others? PA: Well, it’s good because running a business is quite stressful and there’s a lot of problems. When you step away from it and teach, you realise that, in comparison, I don’t have as many problems as some of my students. What I mean by that is because I’m the boss and I’m in my own company, and all the staff work for me and people want my hats, you could easily get into a ‘mode’, and I think teaching is quite important;
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IN BRIEF Piers studied Graphic Design and Photography and the University of Bristol. He has an impressive CV, covering graphics, illustration, theatre, event organisation, art and fashion. Piers’ experience within fashion spans over many fields, ranging from PR, buying, visual merchandising, fashion editing, and designing. Piers teaches regularly at The University for the Creative Arts Rochester, on the Fashion Promotion course. His neon mouse-eared hat was his first piece of press and was featured in an editorial for British Vogue in December 2008. His work was exhibited in Stephen Jones’ V&A exhibition, ‘Millinery In Motion’ in 2009.
it helps you step out of ‘me, me, me’ mode. That’s an unhealthy way of existing. Also, to sit and talk to creative people is brilliant. Young people have all these great ideas, especially involving things like digital media. I can find my students very inspiring. A lot of them come to me to do work experience after university. People at that age are at the beginning of their life and career; the world is their oyster, and it is. Students will say, “I don’t know what to do with my life!” and that’s the same thing. Once you’ve gone through life like I have, you learn that the world is not your oyster; it’s more your rock. It’s a little bit smaller because you’ve opened some doors, but closed others – you’ve narrowed your possibilities down; like now, I couldn’t be a scientist. I love that freedom of thought that students have, even though students don’t really know that they’ve got it. SW: You mentioned that your students inspire you. How? PA: They inspire me all the time. Things like blogs and Tumblr accounts that I’ve never heard of, they introduce me to things like that. They come across new designers that I haven’t heard of, they’re almost like a little resource for me. One of my students is really passionate about historical paintings, which is something I’m really interested in too, so when we’re talking we really engage well in conversation. I enjoy that level of teaching. SW: What do you feel fashion students should be equipped with when they leave university? PA: A stiff upper lip, and the willingness to keep going and learning. The great thing about young people is that they know everything, then as you get older you realise how much you don’t know. That’s the good thing about your age group; you know it all, but that can sometimes come across as arrogant. So I think there’s a fine line between self-confidence and arrogance. Ideally they should be equipped with lots of money! That would help, wouldn’t it? And no student loans. I think perseverance is important – if that means shelf stacking at Tesco in the morning, working at a café in the evening and then in the afternoon doing work experience for a stylist, then that’s what you have to do. Networking skills also are important. I would say to be successful you need to have skills, a passion and the application. It’s hard work.
of LAWRENCE KING PUBLISHING
Images reporoduced with kind permission
HUES AND CRY WORDS: SUSAN BEDINGFIELD
Neons, pastels, block colours and neutral tones – with each new season comes a new colour trend. The high street is currently awash with candy colours and pretty pastels. But these trends started long before they appeared on the catwalk. We spoke to Kate Scully, colour forecaster, author and Senior Lecturer of Fashion Promotion at UCA Rochester to find out how the shades we are wearing today were decided upon long before they reached the high street. GEIST: Your book gave us a great insight into your role. How did you become a colour forecaster? Kate Scully: I applied for my first job as a colour forecaster after reading an advert in The Guardian in 1989! I trained as a textiles designer and had been working with forecasting agencies for 12 years prior to that, so I had a good knowledge of what the job entailed.
Colour is something that’s easy to overlook, but it underpins the fashion industry. GEIST speaks to a colour forecaster and discovers that the shades you wear are predicted up to two years in advance
COLOUR FORECASTING FOR FASHION (PORTFOLIO SKILLS) BY KATE SCULLY AND DEBRA JOHNSTON COBB IS AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON.CO.UK AND IN SELECTED BOOKSHOPS NOW 029
summer the big colour story was white. Because of the current economic climate people do not want to buy a whole new wardrobe every season so we need to think about what will work with what people already have.
G: So what does the role of a colour forecaster involve? KS: Companies depend on colour forecasters for the design of everything, and not just in the fashion industry. Cars, bathrooms, banks, cosmetic companies – they all rely on colour forecasters to ensure that what they produce will be in the correct shades for each season. The job of a colour forecaster is to produce books that show these colours by looking at everything from world events to films, exhibitions to music, art and the economy. A few years ago, for example, there was a big interest in eco-friendly products so colour was all about natural, earthy neutral tones.
G: It seems like a very fast-paced job. What is an average day for a colour forecaster? It all depends on the time of year. A day could involve anything from meeting new and existing clients, presenting our latest findings, creating moodboards, attending trade fairs, commissioning textile designers and collecting samples. I begin by collecting ideas and images, which I put together through moodboards. I attend a meeting with 25 other members of the British Textile Colour Group every April where we bring our ideas together to come up with colour cards for the season we are working on. We then produce bespoke packages depending on our clients. I work with a bedroom and bathroom company so I will interpret what I discover to apply to them.
G: There were a lot of pastel shades on the spring/summer catwalks last September, which are now all over the high street. How was this forecasted? KS: As well as the world around us now, we also think about the past and what the consumer wants. Last
G: Which high street stores are the best at colour forecasting? KS: It all depends on the customer and what they want. If we have a cold, wet summer then tropical colours aren’t going to work. The key is to give the customer choice. Colour is
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COLOUR a very powerful selling tool and is the first thing you notice when you look at a shop window. But what you are attracted to varies. It depends on many factors including your age, your mood, the weather – it all contributes in determining the colours you are attracted to and want to buy. Marks & Spencer and Topshop are generally spot-on with the colours they use. M&S employ two colour forecasters who work closely with the buyers and merchandisers so by the time the colour goes into production, it is a reasonably good bet. Not all high street stores do get it right, though, and when it goes wrong a huge amount of money is wasted.
G: What advice would you give to anyone wanting to get into the colour forecasting industry? KS: A colour forecaster needs a good knowledge of textile design and how colours and prints are actually produced. If it’s a nine-to-five job you are looking for then this is definitely not it. It can feel at times impossible to switch off from the role. A colour forecaster is constantly working, analysing everything, taking photos, making notes and sketches. But if this is something you think you can do and enjoy then my advice would be to get work experience with a colour forecasting agency. Collect information, visit exhibitions and vintage stalls and create moodboards with your findings. Gather some initial ideas and build up a story that would translate into a colour forecast. G: One last, vital question: what is your favourite colour? KS: I have several. Anything between violet and green, including turquoise.
WORDS: AMY YATES
“I just want to bring some good, clean fun to getting dressed.” So says Natalie Anne Moran, and who are we to disagree? Just make sure you expect the unexpected Natalie Anne Moran has the softest giggle, sports a pair of charming cat-eye specs and mutters in the quietest Liverpudlian accent. Cuteness personified. The 25-year-old has an affinity for clumpy shoes, bubblegum hair, chips, tea and OAPs. Since studying fashion in north London – Natalie graduated from Middlesex University back in 2008 – she has worked for the likes of Christopher Kane, Louise Gray, Keko Hainswheeler and Antipodium. This encouraged her to develop her own brand; she launched ‘Natalie Anne Moran’ in September 2011. “After a year of interning and a job offer falling through, I decided to make a collection and see how it went from there,” she says. Her first
capsule collection, unveiled in November 2011, featured cutesy separates inspired by cartoons and underwear. Her interpretation of the two was soft, pretty and fun. They were the kind of pieces that are easy to wear – and easy to get noticed in. The Natalie Anne Moran line comprises variations on the theme of classic T-shirts and jeans re-hashed with embroidery and print. With unexpected detailing and a fusion of fabrics you get a sense of the mischievous theme the brand is about. “I just want to bring some good, clean fun to getting dressed,” says Natalie, whose designs have been seen on the likes of Nicola Roberts and Eliza Doolittle. Natalie’s affection for her northern upbringing
LIFE OF SURPRISES
and her eccentric family of artists, writers and tailors has been a constant inspiration for her, giving rise to her enthusiasm for the world of fashion. Still, with only two collections to speak of, Natalie’s signature cannot yet be fully determined. Last season, the photographer Alice Hawkins influenced the designer: her photographs of Blackpool and Vegas inspired a colour-saturated and embellished range of pieces for spring/summer 2012. When I ask her who the Natalie Anne Moran customer is, she tells me that, besides being aged mainly between 18 and 35, they are “creative and individualistic, like to be feminine while remaining independent and strong-minded”. So, not one to follow the crowd? Natalie concurs, adding that her clothes are definitely “not trend led!” What can we expect from Natalie Anne Moran in 2012? She promises further embellishment, dyeing and print. “I have been taking a better look at the artist Niki de Saint Phalle,” she says. Would this suggest a much bolder colour palette, something that Natalie has been building up to? “I really love Kreayshawn at the minute.” Famous for her spoof rap ‘Gucci, Gucci’, Kreayshawn is the foul-mouthed American rapper on everyone’s radar at the minute. Along with Azealia Banks, these ladies are the latest artists to pipe up with monster confidence and, for her third season, Natalie is braving it and going all-out. “I’ve expanded the collection for autumn/winter 2012; there are more pieces to mix and match than usual,” she says and, like Natalie, her customer is feeling more assured. Rarely seen without her 90s Buffalo platform sneakers, Natalie’s ideas are dreamy – like the end of the rainbow. You don’t know what is going to greet you, but when you get there, you know it is going to be something just wonderful. This girl is full of surprises.
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The skin we
GEIST: Your ‘Third Skin’ collection is truly exceptional, especially in the construction of each garment. How would you explain your concept? Valentina Poletti: My clothes are a reflection, in colours and shapes, of the place that surrounds them. In one case you have natural colours and transparent fabrics, an extension of a body that is dynamic, in connection with nature and escapism; in the other case, you have cold colours and strong shapes, representing the static city. That’s why my dresses have two ways to wear them, one dynamic and one static, in order to find a balance and be comfortable and wearable in both situations. That is our ‘third skin’, the environment – the one we use to call home.
live in G: Where did you get your inspiration for the collection? VP: I started with the concept of the ‘second skin’, a theme which was mainly treated by visual creators, working with new technologies. These artists were trying to create second layers on the body, to extend them and to display a human state, towards the outside world. Every time was a trial from them to get the human being
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closer to the new, modern world, in order to find a balance, as all the changes that evolution brought were going far from being close to the natural way of living. Now the situation has changed, mankind is trying to come back to their mistakes, using technologies to solve the problems that they created. I started to focus on a third layer – a ‘third skin’ – as a reflection of the environment on us, our body, our clothes. The main character of my collection became a woman who wanted to be one with the landscape. It’s all about places, and what we call home. I got really inspired by the African tribe, the Himba people, as they are considered the first people who created what we now call ‘national parks’. They also wear clothes which reflect the place where they live, painting them with a mixture which has the same colour and substance of the land, respecting the atmosphere of the place.
G: We particularly like the first design, the long cream dress, as it is beautifully tailored. Are there any pieces that you are particularly proud of? VP: I like to see the clothes next to the space I created
with digital collage (thanks to Carolina Amoretti, a photographer based in Milan). I don’t actually have a favourite piece but I do like the extension of the pants into long skirts, and the simple cuts on the grey pieces, all based on squared patterns.
G: Who do you turn to for artistic inspiration and creative influence? VP: I don’t have big idols in fashion design but I fully admire specific things from some of them. For example, I love the minimalism of Jil Sander, the textures of Missoni, the corners of Rick Owens, the technologies on the clothes of Chalayan, the visionary eye of Gareth Pugh, the melting pot of arts of the Henrik Vibskov Studio… I love the lights of Olafur Eliasson and the architecture, shapes and concepts of Anish Kapoor. G: What do you find exciting in fashion at the moment? VP: The melting pot of fashion with other arts; it’s a way to produce fashion with added values, like good concept, good intentions, simple design, functionality, madness and creativity. The kind of arts that are bringing people together as they believe in the same
CAROLINA AMORETTI &
Berlin-based designer Valentina Poletti tells us about her concept of the ‘third skin’ and how it inspired a collection that mirrors the world in which we live, and explains why she’s excited by the four pillars of ‘design, functionality, madness and creativity’…
VALENTINA POLETTI
WORDS: NATALIE ATTERBURY
Images reporoduced with kind permission of
No. 032
things, wanting to share their emotions. Art is the perfect way to share; it’s the new way to give. And I think music is the perfect art.
G: Now that you’re living in Berlin, do you see yourself staying there? VP: Yes, as a young designer it is amazing. So much subculture, music and events. It’s a dynamic city, you feel new ideas in every corner and good moods. It’s a life that deserves to be lived. G: You have done numerous projects and collaborations. What are you currently working on? VP: I am currently doing an internship, so there is not enough time to work on personal projects or collections, but I am really looking forward to working on something new, and that is going to be soon. G: So what is next for Valentina Poletti? VP: I want to work on another collection, of clothes and objects, this time less conceptual but funnier and more eclectic. I already have some ideas in my mind but the work experience is the priority right now, so that won’t happen before the next three months.
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IMAGE CREATED BY STEPHANIE MATTI
No. 034 WORDS: JESSICA JENNER
Chanel. Miu Miu. Mulberry. Chloé. Many of us think nothing of breaking the bank to own designer labels – often to the detriment of exciting, up-andcoming talent. GEIST asks: what’s in a name?
Grand Designs Is it safe to say that we are all obsessed with designer labels? Whether we can afford it or not, most would like to have at least one tiny little keyring with the shiny, mirrored Chanel ‘C’s on the front. What is it about that sleek, glistening logo that makes us want to take out our purses or wallets and splurge on a name? Yes, it is just a name. We all like to convince ourselves that ‘we need the best quality product’ and ‘the detail on this purse is one of a kind’ – but really, it is just a name. Whether it’s Miu Miu or Chanel, Chloé or Mulberry, we splash out and suddenly think we are the Olsen twins, radiating wealth with our designer bag wherever we go.
BUT IF EVERYONE’S DOING IT, IS IT REALLY THAT CONVINCING? It’s easy to be sceptical when you see youths walking down the high street with a bag plastered inside and out, up the handle and around the bottom with the Louis Vuitton logo. Frankly, it’s hard to believe all these teens have suddenly beaten Europe’s recession and are now earning enough to casually spend £1,000 on a bag to go shopping in New Look with. So what’s the point? Are we all trying to portray this fake social status by spending a ridiculous amount of money, just so hopefully we can persuade someone to think we are richer than we really are? There is no harm in wanting to spend a good amount of money on an attractive bag that is of a high quality. But is a black, plain leather bag with the name Chanel on the front really that amazingly attractive? The majority of us hear the word ‘designer’ and immediately think ‘unaffordable’.
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However, not all designer brands are bankbusters. What about the emerging designers? The small ones who haven’t enough money to smother every billboard in London with a giant-sized picture of their product. Do people even know they exist? The true customers of the designer products, the ones that really want to treat themselves on exclusivity and rarity are more likely to get a bespoke, one-of-a-kind piece by going to an emerging designer. But who can be bothered to research these designers when you know perfectly well you can walk in to Selfridges and have a choice of hundreds? Emerging luxury fashion designer Lisa Good has been establishing her accessory brand LC-DB for two years. She works religiously with highquality materials, from python to fish skin, and is commended for her creative style of design and detail. It is always difficult to establish yourself as a designer in the fashion industry as people are blind to the smaller brands. It is a fact that bigger-named brands price their products far higher than emerging designers, and this is increasing. If this continues, isn’t it worthwhile to start looking into smaller brands, such as LC-DB, to get equivalent quality at a much cheaper price? As fashion-aware consumers, surely we should be supporting these designers. We should be excited to see new shapes and styles rather than plain, square shoulder bags which – wait for it – has just come in the new colour, beige!
WOW, EXCITING. ASOS marketplace is a great place to find new designer brands that are starting off, just like Urban Outfitters and Topshop, who specialise in stocking new designer talent. However, if you are looking for some exclusive rare pieces from a more ‘mature’ yet accessible store, have a look on carnetdemode.com, which showcases new designer talent worldwide. If you don’t mind spending that extra penny on a tad more luxury, then go to ln-cc.com, which stocks not only the emerging designers but also our old favourite established ones, just in case it’s too soon to go completely to the other side.
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No. 036
WORDS: CASSANDRA WALKER
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Presenter, writer and designer – Louise Roe is one busy woman. GEIST grabbed five minutes with her to get an insight into her hectic life
MINUTES
TV presenter and fashion journalist Louise Roe fronts both the US and UK versions of her makeover show, Plain Jane. She co-anchored ABC’s live pre-Oscars show this year, which drew an audience of over 30m viewers, and also anchored MTV International’s red carpet coverage of the 2011 Movie Awards, VMAs, EMAs, and co-hosted E!’s live coverage of the Royal Wedding. Born in the UK but based in LA, Louise presented the long-running style series The Clothes Show before moving stateside. She has written for Elle, Vogue.com, InStyle, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan, is now the Fashion Editor at Large for US Glamour, and also pens monthly style columns for UK glossy Company, MSN, and StylistPick, a successful online retailer for which she has designed a successful collection of shoes and jewellery. When you were starting out, what do you wish someone had told you? Luckily I was given some of the best advice early on, from my Dad who is a travel journalist and knows the industry, and from an editor at Elle magazine. Basically, to enjoy each moment and not to fret too much – and to get in early, stay late, always smile and keep plugging away.
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Your career is one that many aspire to. What aspect do you enjoy the most? Thank you! Probably the fact that every day is completely different to the last – there is no chance of getting bored in my job. For example last week, we filmed in London, Holland, Norway and the Arctic Circle – all in the same week! It can be very tiring, but it’s an awesome experience I wouldn’t swap for anything. And the fashion, too, getting to pick out clothes and shoes for a girl who’s barely worn heels before on Plain Jane, is just brilliant. Which aspects of your job do you find the most challenging? The lack of sleep and huge amount of travel. I don’t sleep past 5am most mornings and I have learned to catnap pretty much anywhere, any time. You are always so together on camera – have you ever been caught out and had to cover? No, I definitely make sure I prepare by getting the right outfit and doing as much research as possible beforehand. I do get the giggles on camera sometimes though, usually when I’m overtired. And then there’s no stopping it! As an Englishwoman living and working in the US, how different do you find the LA and New York fashion scenes compared to London? New York is more similar to London than LA is – it’s eclectic for sure, but there’s a common thread of sharp lines, experimental silhouettes, and lots of biker jackets and killer boots. In LA the weather makes for brighter colours and often shorter hemlines. I wear very beachy maxi dresses in LA, which is a comfy look.
ESSEX
contact@stitchcity.co.uk
FASHION WEEKS
Proving that there is life outside the capital, GEIST maps the country’s other key fashion events past and present
This map is by ALEX HUGES,
WORDS: SUSAN BEDINGFIELD
8 April 2012 Presented by Essex TV personality Jeff Brazier, the second annual Essex Fashion Week was sponsored by Wag World boutique, Perfect Smile Spa and Cinderella Hair extensions among others. TOWIE star Amy Childs opened this year’s Essex Fashion Week with her new clothing range. She joined the models on the catwalk wearing a pair of pink and leopard-print leggings and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan ‘Well Jel’! essexfashionwk.com
NEWCASTLE 26 May 2012 – 3 June 2012 Designers Wayne Hemingway and Scott Henshall made guest appearances at the first Newcastle Fashion Week in 2011. Marie Claire’s Elizabeth Walker has been confirmed as guest speaker for 2012’s line-up, which also includes ‘Frock and Roll’, an event which involves five to-be-announced live bands accompanying five top brands on the catwalk The Geordie Shore cast have yet to receive an invite… get-into-newcastle.co.uk/NFW
MANCHESTER 9-14 April 2012 The first Manchester Fashion Week included shows from London Fashion Week designer Nadine Merabi, Manchester online retail store Missguided.com and TV personality Callum Best showcasing his new underwear line (although he didn’t model them personally). Designer store Flannel’s catwalk show on Thursday was disrupted by animal
at Brighton Fashion Week following the success of her 2010 collection ‘Trashion Show’, which was created from rubbish, and last year’s ‘Roadkill Couture’, which featured pieces made from rat skin and magpie feathers. brightonfashionweek.co.uk
GLASGOW 27-31 October 2012 Founded in 2007, this year is the fifth Glasgow Fashion Week and it will showcase the finest Scottish talent as well as designers from the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa. Originally started as a platform exclusively for Scottish talent, Glasgow Fashion Week did not have the most successful of beginnings. During its first year in 2007 the event reportedly made a loss of more than £60,000 and the 2009 Glasgow Fashion Week collapsed just a week before it was scheduled after the venue it was set to be held in cancelled. The new Fashion Week has since become open for designers of all nationalities, and has proved to be a great success.
CARDIFF
rights campaigners who crashed the stage – despite no fur being shown on any of the week’s catwalks! mcrfashionweek.com
LIVERPOOL 15-20 October 2012 Eighties pop star Sinitta is set to open the fourth annual Liverpool Fashion Week following in the footsteps of Hollyoaks actress Jennifer Metcalfe and curvaceous This Morning presenter Alison Hammond, who took to the catwalk last year. Last year’s events included a DJ
set from 6 Music presenter and Red Dwarf actor Craig Charles. liverpoolfashionweek.co.uk
BRISTOL 21-25 March 2012 Bristol Fashion Week saw a collection of 18 high street stores and boutiques take to the catwalk including River Island, Miss Selfridge, Next, Marks & Spencer, Warehouse, Bank and Gap, and was presented by famous hair stylists Mark Hayes and Andrew Barton. The Bristol Fashion Week audience were given a goody bag that
included a booklet of discounts for the participating brands and a raffle ticket to win a Cath Kidston handbag. mallcribbs.com/bfwblogger
BRIGHTON 28 May 2012 – 3 June 2012 This year sees the seventh nonexclusive Brighton Fashion Week, which has proved a brilliant platform in the past for designers and models that have been picked up by established fashion houses and top London model agencies. Designer Jess Eaton will be showing for the third consecutive year
5-7 October 2012 This autumn will see the inaugural Fashion Week Cardiff, which is set to be a three-day event to promote the influential Welsh designers in the industry, coinciding with the Cardiff Design Festival in October. Fashion Week Cardiff is not to be mistaken for ‘Cardiff Fashion Week’, which was held in April 2010 to mark the six-month anniversary of the opening of St David’s 2 shopping centre.
BELFAST 14-18 March 2012 The 18th West Coast Cooler Fashion Week was hosted by BBC presenter and former Miss Northern Ireland Joanne Salley. The five-day event showcased a selection of the finest fashions from Northern Ireland’s leading designer boutiques, alongside up-and-coming local designers as well as established names including Matthew Williamson and JW Anderson. belfastfashionweek.com
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ZOE WILLIAMS
ANNIE MAE HARRIS
KIMONO - BEYOND RETRO
PHOTOGRAPHY - LEIGH KEILY STYLING - EMELIE HULTQVIST AND STELIOS STYLIANOU AT UN-CATEGORIZED
COLO
UR M E BA D
COLOUR ME GOOD
NECKLACE - MICHELLE LOWE-HOLDER
SKIRT - BEYOND RETRO
POLO NECK - MONKI
NECKPIECE WORN ON SHOULDER - MICHELLE LOWE-HOLDER
SKIRT - BEYOND RETRO
POLO NECK - GUDRUN SJODEN DESIGN
DRESS - BEYOND RETRO
SWIMSUIT AND SHIRT - BEYOND RETRO
VEST - TIMOTHY FORGE
MODEL - KATHLEEN @ M+P
USING MAC AND LAURA MERCIER
HAIR AND MAKE-UP - EVAN HUANG
SHORTS - STYLIST’S OWN
SHIRT - LISETTE NORRBY
CUFF - MICHELLE LOWE-HOLDER
SKIRT - BEYOND RETRO
SLEEPER
PHOTOGRAPHY - SAM HAYWOOD STYLING - SAM HAYWOOD AND LAUREN MASON
MODEL - ELLE MAYNE
PHOTOGRAPHY-LEIGH KEILY BEAUTY MAKE-UP-EVAN HUANG
HEAVY METAL
CONCEPT ASSISTANT - SAM HAYWOOD
MERCIER, CASTING - STEPHEN CONWAY,
EVAN HUANG USING MAC AND LAURA
MODEL - SYLVIA F. AT NEVS, MAKE-UP -
TRIP
PHOTOGRAPHY - GABRIELA ANTUNES STYLING - CAMILLA HOLMES
MAKE-UP - AMY CONLEY, MODELS - HANNAH MARSHALL AND
STEPHANIE NORTON, BROKEN FAB AND BEYOND RETRO
GARMENTS FROM AGI & SAM, MIGH-T, SARAH REARDON,
AMY WARNER, HANNAH AND TALLULAH WEAR A SELECTION OF
TALLULAH @ PROFILE, PRODUCTION - SAM HAYWOOD, ASSISTANT -
REBIRTH P H O T O G R A P H Y - R E B E C C A A L L A R D S T Y L I N G - R E B E C C A A L L A R D A N D J A D E
M I N C H I N
MODEL - MEL BRYANT
TABLE SERVICE PHOTOGRAPHY - GIOVANNI MARTINS STYLING - KATI GARBUZ
KUDO, BRACELET - MAWI
GONZALEZ, LATEX GLOVES - ATSUKO
LEATHER MASK - GABRIELLA MARINA
THIS PAGE - DRESS - YAYA YANG
NECKLACE - MARIA PIANA, RING - MAWI
LATEX SHIRT - ATSUKO KUDO, HARNESS
LEATHER CLUTCH BAG - COMME DES GARCONS
CULIETTA, RINGS - MAWI, LATEX GLOVES - ATSUKO KUDO,
THIS PAGE - JUMPSUIT - INBAR SPECTOR, CHAIN MASK -
- CULIETTA, BRACELET - MAWI, LATEX GLOVES - ATSUKO KUDO
PREVIOUS PAGE - BLAZER & SILK SHIRT - ZDDZ, CHAIN MASK
HAIR & MAKE-UP - DANIEL PALMER
NECKLACE - MAWI, MODEL - MANUELLA @ D1,
ARMOUR - GABRIELLA MARINA GONZALEZ,
SILK SHIRT - LINGLING LEE, GLOVES &
NECKLACE & RING - MAWI
LATEX SHIRT - ATSUKO KUDO,
RUFFLE DRESS - ROBERT WUN,
SHEER PHOTOGRAPHY-CAMERON ALEXANDER STYLING-CARA WYATT AND HANNA SMITH
THIN ASIAN GIRL IN CONCRETE PLAYGROUND PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERON ALEXANDER STYLING: CARA WYATT AND HANNA SMITH
MODEL - TERRA CLEMENTS
DEBRIS
PHOTOGRAPHY-ALEX DELLOW STYLING-MATTHEW REDMAN AND MATTHEW BUSBRIDGE
MODEL: SEAN FOX @ NEVS
PHOTOGRAPHY-EEVA RINNE STYLING-EMELIE HULTQVIST AND STELIOS STYLIANOU AT UN-CATEGORIZED
BAG - MONKI
SCARF - ASOS
GLOVES - MONKI
POLO NECK - AMERICAN APPAREL
PRIMARY
TIGHTS - AMERICAN APPAREL
MUDS - ASOS, SHOES - DR MARTENS
TIGHTS - AMERICAN APPAREL
SOCKS - UNIQLO, SHOES - DR MARTENS
SKIRT - AMERICAN APPAREL
SHOES - ASOS, MODEL- RAE @ D1
TIGHTS - TIGHTSPLEASE
GLOVES - ASOS, BOW - AMERICAN APPAREL
BOILING POINT
PHOTOGRAPHY: LEIGH KEILY NAILS: STEPHANIE MENDIOLA
GLITTER DUST AND SEQUINS
FULERTON, NAIL BOUTIQUE, WITH
- NAIL POLISH BY ANDREA
THIS PAGE AND FACING PAGE
SHOOT CONCEPT ASSISTANCE - SAM HAYWOOD
CRUZ, PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT - STEPHEN CONWAY,
SECHE VITE QUICK DRY TOP COAT, HAND MODEL - CARLA
NAILS - STEPHANIE MENDIOLA AT CAREN AGENCY USING
FACING PAGE - GLITTER DUST
WITH GLITTER DUST AND SEQUINS
THIS PAGE - NAIL POLISH BY SPA RITUAL,
GRADUATE
PHOTOGRAPHY-GIOVANNI MARTINS STYLING-EMELIE HULTQVIST AND STELIOS STYLIANOU AT UN-CATEGORIZED
LINDSAY MACDONALD
HANNA HANHELA
GEIST PRESENTS WORK FROM GRADUATING UCA ROCHESTER STUDENTS’ COLLECTIONS
LUCY GEORGE
IMOGEN ALLAN
CORSET - STACEY BANNISTER, DRESS - TERESA KROENUNG
LUCY GEORGE
JAMES USING AVEDA AND MAC PRO
HAIR AND MAKE-UP - NATALIE
MODEL - ADDISON @ D1
LUCY GEORGE
LINDSAY MACDONALD
No. 108
Lindsay MacDonald Lindsay MacDonald is a finalyear Fashion Atelier student from Lincolnshire. She completed a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at East Coast College before attending UCA Rochester. The inspiration for her final collection is from parachutes, studying all elements of them including the backpack they’re housed in and the way the cord distorts the fabric when set off. She experimented with various materials and used webbing from parachutes to create interesting shapes and designs.
Imogen Allan Imogen Allan is a third-year Fashion Atelier student at UCA Rochester. Originally from Essex, Imogen completed a foundation diploma at London College of Fashion before she came to UCA. She took her inspiration for her final major collection from classical music, and the technique of serialism. She was inspired by the complex way in which the music is constructed as well as the literal music notes and how they are joined and appear together. Imogen interpreted the music in her designs through pattern cutting and the way the garments are constructed.
Lucy George Lucy George is coming to the end of her three-year degree course
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in Fashion Atelier. She joined UCA Rochester after completing a diploma in Fashion Design at Northampton College. Androgyny is the main point of inspiration for Lucy’s final collection. She focused on the construction of masculine and feminine identities and the result of mixing stereotypical male and female elements in her designs.
Teresa Kroenung Originally from Frankfurt, Germany, Teresa Kroenung studied Art, English and Philosophy before moving to the UK to study for a degree in Fashion Design at UCA Rochester. The inspiration behind Teresa’s final collection started with the book The Terror by Dan Simmons, which is a fictional take on the lost Franklin expedition to the Arctic and how the characters struggle with the isolation of being stuck on ships that were frozen to the spot in the ocean. Teresa looked at ethnic Inuit garments for the basic silhouette of her designs and clashed that with the idea of how the body appears when frozen. The Arctic was the foundation for both colours and textures.
Stacey Bannister Stacey Bannister moved from Eastbourne to UCA Rochester to study Fashion Design after completing a National Diploma in Art and Design in which she specialised in Fashion and
Textiles. Her final collection is based on fairies and fantasy creatures, and how they are viewed through the eyes of a child today. She was interested in how what is now thought to be pretty, magical and essentially harmless actually originated from old wives’ tales told to keep children in line and to make sure they were to stay away from particular places and people. Stacey combines the modern-day image of fairies as beautiful and friendly creatures with the original sinister and cruel creatures they once were. Design ideas such as light layering on top of harder structures and flashes of brighter colours is one way the concept has been conveyed, while heavy moleskins and large coats combined with light silks and draping is another.
Hanna Hanhela Hanna Hanhela moved to the UK to study for a degree at UCA Rochester in Fashion Atelier after completing a course in fine art in her native country, Finland. Her collection is inspired by armour and clothing for protection. Hanna studied how the clothing becomes a labour to put on. She also looked at the clothing of child workers from the 1940s and 1950s and took elements of how they dressed for her designs. To tie in with the protection theme, Hanna has used heavy fabrics to create her collection.
CHIHIRO GOMPEI
No. 110
The Lady Killer
In the films of Alfred Hitchcock, women suffer mercilessly at the hands of troubled men, not least the director himself. He remains a giant of cinema, but accusations of misogyny haunted him throughout his life. Rachel Butterfill explores the murky world of the Hitchcock Blonde
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Alfred Hitchcock was a director who loved to tease his actresses and please his audience. He once said, peculiarly, that: “Blondes make the best victims… like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.” An auteur with a highly recognisable and distinctive style, the British-born director gained a loyal following of his stylish noirs, from his silent thrillers of the 1920s to his Hollywood whodunits of post-war America. Hitchcock was a master of suspense, utilising an often slow but excruciatingly gripping pace in his movies, atmospheric music scores to make your hair stand on end and disturbingly unstable male protagonists. With the British Film Institute’s screening of a number of Hitch’s painstakingly restored silent films as part of the run up to the London Olympics this summer, there lies an opportunity to look back at a celebrated director and his film legacy, and remember some of the elements which made him both popular and the receiver of hefty scorn. Hitchcock’s films were, and still are, met with great acclaim. On the other hand, his unusual disposition and his troubling attitude towards his leading ladies have opened him up to harsh criticism. The eccentric traits in the films of Hitchcock sit comfortably within the film noir genre, from the dramatic German Expressionist-style shadows in his 1960 horror Psycho, to the unconventional crime-solving, wheelchair-bound hero LB Jeffries in Rear Window (1954). A strong aspect of film noir, the feisty, sexually charged femme fatale, is an important element too, and was used to illustrate both unspoken and overt fears of contemporary society. Hitchcock’s femmes fatales represented an inherent and, as we would recognise today, completely unnecessary fear of woman’s growing power in a patriarchal society. They are an overpowering influence in many of his key films. Hitch’s femme fatale is an instigator for trouble, the bringer of bad luck and the unwilling recipient of mental and physical punishment. Marion Crane, in Psycho, is killed off by psychologically
tormented Norman Bates within 30 minutes of the film, because of her promiscuity and criminal behaviour. Yet she still maintains a strong presence, as does Bates’ mother, whose persona Norman takes after murdering her in a strange Oedipal or Hamlet-esque twist. Tippi Hedren as stunning blonde Melanie Daniels faces punishment in the form of an attack by crazed birds (aka women, as Hitchcock might put it) in The Birds (1963), a film that reveals what increasingly seems to be a bitter Hitchcock. Hedren poses another example on the list of Hitchcock’s bizarre but oddly genius approaches to cinema, due to the fact that she ended up severing ties with the director following his controlling, chauvinistic behaviour towards her through his apparent desire to forge her into a perfect Grace Kelly prototype, his perfect blonde. Hitchcock’s iconic icy blonde was perhaps as much an important spectacle for an audience as, some may argue controversially, a source of aesthetic pleasure and a victim of fetishistic torture for Hitchcock. The unequivocal use of blonde hair as a sly mise-en-scène technique and the way in which he portrayed his favourite but feared woman, has led to questions of the negative portrayal of women as sex objects, particularly from feminist writers and theorists. The idea that his women are merely there to be looked at crops up repeatedly, and the characters in his films certainly do not help his case. Was Hitchcock using this untamed blonde seductress as a warning to women to show that their seemingly strong sexuality will not end well for them? Were his portrayals simply representations of fears of the time? Or were they evidence of a deep-seated anger towards and anxiety of women? It soon becomes apparent that his crafty Marions and conniving Melanies may have received a rather more personal input into their unfortunate fates, than it just being a simply method of characterisation. When situations occur where it seems as though there is a remote hint that a female character is gaining some power through their sexuality, Hitchcock’s male protagonists try so very hard to retain authority within the narrative. In the voyeuristic whodunit Rear Window, invalid Jeffries, played by James Stewart, is seen becoming engrossed in a potential murder and becomes the ultimate voyeur as he observes his neighbours from all walks of life through his camera lens from his wheelchair. Arguably a phallic symbol, Jeffries insists on total control of his camera lens and only on one rare occasion does he allow girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) to see what he has been seeing from a voyeuristic point of view through his binoculars, and not his camera lens. He is able then to maintain his position as voyeur while continuing to fail to pay much attention to his long-suffering girlfriend. This way of protecting masculinity can be applied to a huge number of Hitchcock’s films. Scottie (James Stewart again) in Vertigo (1958) is a troubled and unconventional protagonist who suffers from the incapacitating condition of vertigo. In short, he encounters a classic deceptive Hitchcock blonde who tricks him, under the instruction of Scottie’s supposed friend Gavin, into thinking she is the psychotic wife of Gavin, Madeleine, whom Scottie is to investigate. She is, in actual fact, an unrelated woman called Judy. The narrative continues and Scottie believes Madeleine/Judy has been killed by a fall, and lives his life in turmoil thinking he could have saved her were it not for his vertigo. Later on in the story we see Scottie believing he has seen Madeleine; however, it turns out that it is Judy having reverted back to her actual persona, complete with dark brown hair. Scottie proceeds to try to turn her into the beautiful blonde Madeleine who he remembers,
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still not knowing that it actually is her. The fact that he does this suggests his determination to gain back his authority and retain control over something which he had once loved and lost. In the end, Judy receives her ultimate punishment and is killed for her conniving and troublesome behaviour. One particularly complex film, which could suggest the director’s chauvinistic and even misogynistic attitude towards women, is Psycho. The fact that Marion (Janet Leigh) is killed so early on in the story and that the mother has already been murdered, yet they still retain a debilitating presence within the story and on its protagonist, could potentially imply that Hitchcock is connoting his anxiety of a woman’s wholly domineering presence. It seems that Hitchcock’s determination of the fate of these women depends on their behaviour. When they are promiscuous, criminal-minded or too domineering they are killed off, but when they are needy and show weakness, they are left to put up with a life under the instruction of a man or suffer without the love of a man which they, by Hitchcock’s standards, so desperately crave. It’s as though Hitchcock had an obsession with control and a fear of the way in which women could make you feel through their potent sexuality Hitchcock’s timeless noir style can effortlessly be brought into the present by taking his archetypal and often negatively represented female characters and finding them in contemporary culture. In Hitch’s films, the female protagonists are for the most part beautiful yet cunning, occasionally naive but deceptively powerful. In some of his key films like Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Rear Window, North By Northwest and Vertigo, women, particularly that troublesome icy blonde who he finds so hard to tolerate, are reprimanded for displaying any hint of authority. However, if we look at current film, we are not inundated with this extreme fear of women and it would be a controversial opinion to consider women as inferior. Of course there are many questions about the objectification and sexualisation of women by others and also about the way in
which some conduct themselves, in such an image and sexsaturated media. But the point is that, unlike in Hitchcock’s films, it is not universally accepted that women are the lesser sex or are only for the purpose of being sexualised for the superior man. Contemporary neo-noirs such as the highly stylised graphic novel adaptation Sin City (2005) can provide a platform for exploring female stereotyping. In Sin City, the corrupt policemen, sexually powerful ‘dames’ and clichéd character types hint at a film noir narrative but from an idealised graphic novel point of view. The women are almost caricatures, from the violent prostitutes who run the Sin City Old Town to the promiscuous girlfriend suffering abuse at the hands of her corrupt policeman boyfriend and his gang of thugs. These ladies, in one sense, are negatively portrayed, but due to the fact that it is based on a graphic novel, and therefore over-exaggerated in nature, it may simply be looked at as satire or pastiche. Many of the female characters are shown in very little clothing and sexual situations. They are often promiscuous, suggesting sexual liberation. We could imagine that if these elements had been featured in a Hitchcock film, each and every woman would have been punished in different ways in order to monitor the amount of sexual control and freedom the woman is allowed. However, putting Sin City in a current context, though it may seem that some of the women are punished, either through domestic abuse or murder, the fact that the majority of the women still remain powerful is significant. The prostitutes retain control over their domain, using force if necessary. Stunning blonde Shellie (Brittany Murphy) uses her affair to attempt
was notoriously persuasive when it came to how he wished his female characters to be viewed. In a number of the images, it’s as though the women are made to seem as though they know they are being watched, therefore touching on whether women enjoy the feeling of being the victim, for want of a better word, of the voyeur, and that it is not just about what the audience (or the director, in Hitchcock’s case) want. Sherman celebrates the female form for what it is and almost encourages a division of opinion of her work through such a wideranging presentation of women. The costume she places herself in and the composition of the mise en scène in each situation generates a new story and a new thought process about what the purpose of the image is. The fact that she uses herself as model pushes even further the idea of female regulation of their representation and seems to be a positive way of embracing an image of women without accusations of objectification and sexualisation.
to gain authority over her relationship, thus giving her the self-worth that she deserves.
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of
Institute
courtesy
Film British
Images
ful shower in Psycho
Leigh)
prepares for her fate-
(Janet Crane
Marion Above:
Birds.
Top: Tippi Hedren in The
‘When Hitchcock’s women are promiscuous or too domineering, they’re killed off... It’s as though he had an obsession with control and a fear of the way women could make you feel through their sexuality’
Looking further at contemporary culture, American photographer Cindy Sherman has an idiosyncratic approach to photography. She gives her audience an inherently provocative representation of women through selfportraiture. In her Untitled Film Stills taken between 1977 and 1980, she shows almost stereotypical representations of women that echo and even mock Hitchcock’s femmes fatales and needy housewives, yet her characters are so intriguing that we are willed into wanting to know more. Sherman plays on the objectification of women through image and explores the moment when she becomes under the control of, as feminist Laura Mulvey would put it, the ‘male gaze’. Her women are not necessarily portrayed negatively but are put before an audience who are allowed to make their own judgements without any obvious influence. This can be contrasted with Hitchcock, a man who
Work like Sherman’s and films like Sin City seem to challenge the representation of women through playing on negative stereotypes and turning them on their head. It can make you wonder whether the Hitchcock heroine who was punished, objectified and feared has become merely a construct to be mocked in contemporary culture. Are Hitchcock’s apparent depictions of his anxiety of women and his display of the ideal ultimate subservience of women simply misogynistic, as many feminist writers have claimed? If this were the case, then it would imply that the extraordinary motion pictures he created could be overshadowed by criticism, which would be an incredible shame. When looking back at Hitch’s films, the unmatched skill, distinctive style and his ability to terrify yet retain his authorial grip on an audience, it’s near impossible not to be taken in by his cinematic power and influence. So, should Psycho’s Marion or Rear Window ’s Lisa be left in the past and appreciated as a representation of thoughts and fears of the society at the time? Can this type of strong, beautiful female image be utilised in contemporary society in knowing that character is not being regarded as inadequate to man? Where damaging female stereotyping is used it should be for satirical or mocking purposes, and instead this influential female can be celebrated today for her independence and power.
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THE EDITORS
No. 114 to do something on my own and create something that was very personal to me, to showcase all of the things that I loved.
Words: Layla Abounour
THE EDITORS GEIST interviewed three successful female editors who have set up their own independent magazines: Liz Bennett from Oh Comely, Charlotte Jacklin from Betty and Amelia Gregory from Amelia’s Magazine. They tell us about out the inspirations behind their drive for success in the magazine industry and how they got there
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Every page in Amelia’s differs from the next, through illustrations, typography and art direction. Was this something that you were consciously aware of while creating each issue? It’s deliberately like that, that’s my aesthetic. I trained as a textile designer, I like a lot of pattern, colour and bold combinations. It did evolve over the issues, because the different people evolved too, such as the designers, illustrators and photographers. So from that point of view it did evolve. But the look of it is definitely me, and all the things that I looked at before I started it. I collect children’s books and they’re always full of different colours and ideas. I hope that whenever I put together pages I was always respectful of the people that produced the artwork. So with fashion and photography I would not go over the photos. A lot of graphic designers tend to mess around with people’s work, they’re great at putting words into strange configurations which then makes it impossible to read, so I was also careful to make sure that people could actually read other’s artwork easily.
I spoke to the inspirational editor, art director and publisher Amelia Gregory. We talked about why showcasing new, sustainable fashion designers is important to her, and whether or not she thinks she will ever have a proper job.
Up-and-coming fashion designers such as Fred Butler and Erdem were often featured in the magazine. How important is featuring new talent to you? Very important. I’m not really interested in the Dolce & Gabbanas and Versaces of this world, there are enough people writing about them. The magazine still is, and was, a way to champion small designers, which is not the best way to make a living because they don’t advertise, but hey ho.
What was your biggest inspiration behind starting Amelia’s Magazine? Lots of different things, but mainly I suppose the fact that I worked for many other magazines and I wasn’t particularly happy with the way that people wanted me to work. So I wanted
You also often featured sustainable designers in the magazine such as Noki, or and the Bora Aksu and People Tree collaboration. How important is sustainability to you? Sustainability within fashion is very important to me. I have written two
AMELIA GREGORY AMELIA’S MAGAZINE
books around this and I have a whole section on the online magazine which is devoted to things which are earthrelated, and eco-fashion is a big part of that. I think from the beginning that is why I am not interested in big brands, it’s the independent, small brands which tend to have a more sustainable nature. In terms of how they produce things, maybe not as a business model, but they will tend to use local materials and local makers. More and more have become aware of the impact of fashion on the environment, and I think it’s really important that this ethos of making things sustainable carries through to as many bigger brands as possible.
‘I’m not really interested in the Dolce & Gabbanas and Versaces of this world, there are enough people writing about them. The magazine still is, and was, a way to champion small designers’ I think that many small brands are driving this in a way, because they are able to experiment and come up with new solutions. Who are your main artistic influences? I don’t really have people that I look up to. For me, it’s all about discovering new things, and that’s changing all the time. Whenever I find a new, exciting designer or artist, that’s what excites me. I admire the people who have really stuck at their own thing and have really made something of what they do. Was it hard sticking to your original plan of bringing out 10 issues? No, it wasn’t. After five years I wanted to
try something else. I do miss producing print magazines in many ways because I love print. Although, I have done two books and I still work on greeting cards and so on. So I’ve got lots of outlets for that, and I’m sure that I will return to print again at some point in the future. Because I am a one-woman band, I can’t do everything. I really wanted to explore the internet better and figure out a way to make that work, and I couldn’t have done that if I continued in print without a big team, which I have never had. So no, I was happy to bail out at that point. In the editor’s letter of the last issue you thanked your parents for accepting that you “may never have a proper job”. Do you ever think that you will have a ‘proper’ job? No, I still don’t [laughs]. Making an online magazine work in terms of financial success is even harder than a print magazine, and making books work is even harder than a print magazine. Everything I’ve done since I’ve stopped making a print magazine has been harder. I think my parents have realised that I’m not very good at having a proper job. I am doing other things though, I still teach and I am also managing social media for other people, which earns me a bit of a living. Those things I am able to do because of what I do online. Ironically enough, the people that I am doing the most social media for are my printers. They are the people that I have worked with all the way through, but don’t understand things online, whereas I do. We’ve come around in this funny sort of circle. Do you have any advice for students wishing to have a career working within the magazine industry? Get out there and do as many internships as possible, meet as many people as possible, work with as many people who are related to the industry as possible. That’s what I did. Just learn on the job, because you can’t really go from being a student to directly working for a magazine if you’ve had no experience.
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THE EDITORS LIZ BENNETT OH COMELY After studying Classics at Oxford, Liz set up Oh Comely with co-editor Derek Tan, while humbly still working at the local bakery as a Saturday girl. With hardly any previous editorial experience, I found out why Liz chose to start her own magazine, and why it often ends up in the boardgame section of WHSmith. Where did the inspiration for starting Oh Comely come from? I got very into journalism while studying. Classics is a fascinating subject, and some of the literature I read really affected me. But I found the process of writing about it quite sterile: it’s very difficult to say anything new when the texts have been studied for over 2,000 years, and your essay has no audience except your tutor. News journalism, which is the first thing I tried, was the exact opposite and I found it exhilarating. It was also really exciting to be in a room with lots of people who cared passionately about words and images, and the craft of putting them together. With Oh Comely in particular, it was the sense that I had no home among conventional women’s magazines and that it was possible to make a magazine that was happier than what these magazines were offering: something thoughtful, quite beautiful, and funny. Why did you decide to name the magazine after the song ‘Oh Comely’ by Neutral Milk Hotel? Derek and I really liked the song, and it had resonance with us even without the song’s associations. The front covers are very distinctive, especially when placed next to the competitors in WHSmith. How is the minimalist feel of Oh Comely reflected within the content in the magazine? There’s a lot of white space in the magazine, this was partly to make the magazine really stand out. The
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handwriting of the front cover has a personal touch too. The models on the front covers all seem to be imbued with this overwhelming, effortless beauty. Is this something that you look out for during casting? I’m sure this is true for any magazine, but getting the right cover is a total nightmare. It’s so difficult because you’ve got to get someone with the right look. What we look for is optimism and natural beauty. Our idea of the covers was to use ordinary people who aren’t models, but this hasn’t really happened over the last few issues, just because it’s so much more difficult to find someone who isn’t a model, but who has a striking enough face to go on the cover.
‘It’s meant to be a magazine that you keep, and that inspires people. We aim for longevity’ Who or what are your main influences? The magazine is influenced by the variety of everyone involved in it. Oh Comely has a really talented team, and each of them has left a mark on the magazine and affected it in their own way. You say the latest issue ‘is like a breath of fresh air’. Is it your aim to have a main theme running through each issue, or is this something that is instinctively realised at the end of production? It’s very much instinctive at the end. We don’t try to force it. If there is a theme, it’s often because it’s just what we’ve been thinking about, rather than just deciding that this is going to be the theme. Would you say fashion is as important as arts and crafts in Oh Comely? When we’re thinking about the magazine there are a few pillars that we need to get
THE EDITORS right, and fashion is one of them. First of all it has a huge impact on advertising, as that’s what advertisers look at. It’s also quite important for the visual feel, because it’s a big chunk of images, it really sets the tone visually. If it’s slightly in one direction or another, the rest of the magazine has to compensate for it; if it’s slightly too dreamy, the rest of the magazine has to be more grounded. Our fashion editor is really efficient and does things much more earlier than the rest of us, so the fashion often comes in quite early. Then we can visually build the rest of the magazine, it really has a strong impact on the visual voice of the magazine.
CHARLOTTE JACKLIN BETTY
Do you have a say on where the magazine is placed in WHSmith? Yes because we ship it to WHSmith directly, we ask for it to be in the lifestyle section. In practice, WHSmith is hard to control, we’ve had it in really weird places as they don’t know where to put it. Once, someone told us it was in the boardgame section. Individual stores get confused. Sometimes it ends up in women’s culture.
What was your biggest inspiration behind starting Betty? A lot of current fashion magazines tell the reader ‘how to get the look’, and ‘what’s going up and what’s going down’. I felt as if there was a niche for a youthful magazine which makes woman feel good about themselves. We like to think that the Betty girl has originality and confidence to go out there herself and choose things independently, according to her own personal tastes and style, rather than because she has been told to by a magazine. Betty is a best friend who encourages and embraces this.
Do you have any advice for students wishing to work in the magazine industry? In a way, I don’t. My advice from receiving a lot of pitches from different people is to be really clear about what’s going to be in it, and make sure that what you send in is suitable. The one thing I look for, obviously, is if it is any good, and that the person can write well. I don’t go through the photographs as that’s not my area. I also look for people who really get the magazine. If I feel someone is pitching an idea, and they really like the magazine, and they have an understanding of it, then that’s a big plus. A really big turn-off as an editor is when you feel that people are just trying to get something into a magazine. You’ve got to personalise your work towards the publication you’re pitching to. And be persistent. We get so many emails, and we’re a small magazine – I can’t imagine how many emails The Guardian gets. Calling people is also really effective in making sure that they look at your submission.
University for the Creative Arts alumnus, Charlotte Jacklin, graduated from the Rochester campus in 2009 with a degree in BA Hons Fashion Promotion. Since then she has worked non-stop to fulfil her dream of working in the fashion industry. She now works full-time as part of the online marketing team at Paul Smith during the day, and works on Betty during the evenings and weekends. I found out all about how and why Charlotte decided to start her own magazine.
Unlike a lot of women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines, Betty aims to give women the ‘confidence to happy with who they are’. How is this achieved? We like to feature articles and photoshoots about the simpler things in life, such as crafts, baking, camping and picnics, all fun things which make me feel happy and which I personally enjoy. We do not do ‘must-have’-style features – we would rather inspire the reader by using product features which we feel the reader would want, and would gain enjoyment from. Why did you choose to call your magazine Betty? Betty is inspired by many people: Bette Davis, Betty Friedan, my grandma Elizabeth, by best friend Beth, all of
whom are important, inspirational women. It is a traditional, retro name with a nostalgic sentiment, but a fresh feel. Betty can be a bit cheeky at times too. Did you always know throughout your degree that you wanted to become a magazine editor? No, not at all. I started Betty as my final major project at university with a course friend. We thought that creating a magazine would bring together everything that we learnt during our time studying at UCA, such as PR, journalism, editing and styling. The team at Betty has evolved a lot since university, I’m always learning new things and everyone works together to make Betty the best it can be. I couldn’t do it alone.
‘Betty is inspired by many people: Bette Davis, Betty Friedan, my grandma Elizabeth, by best friend Beth, all of whom are important, inspirational women’ What was your favourite aspect about studying for your degree in Rochester? I loved the sense of community in Rochester. I found myself talking about fashion non-stop, whereas at home this was a lot harder to do. I enjoyed studying in a university where fashion was all around. Rochester is generally a nice, tranquil town with lots to offer. What work experience did you carry out during your degree? Do you feel as if this helped in the long run? I interned one day a week throughout my whole first year at the Lulu Guinness press office. Then in my second year I moved to the retail store, working two days a week. After graduating, I was put in touch with someone at Lulu Guinness again, and after having an interview I
got a job assisting the web editor and soon began working there full-time. I worked on the redesign and relaunch of the website. I also worked on the Lulu Guinness press pages, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Lulu’s blog. After a year working there I started to miss Betty, which is why I began working on the Betty blog once again, which we started alongside the magazine at university. Work experience definitely helps in the long term. Not only do you get to learn a lot about the fashion industry, but you also make lots of contacts and get the opportunity to network. This can be very difficult without work experience.
Betty is available to buy online – do you have any plans to start selling the magazine elsewhere? We currently stock it in the Tatty Devine store in Brick Lane and in Wardour News in Soho, and also in some galleries in London. We have stockists in Japan and the US as well. We are always looking for ways to expand, which is difficult when we’re on a small budget. We just want to get the Betty name out there. The growth of Betty has been very organic, due to working full-time and then working on it in any spare time that we get. What are you plans for the future? We are currently redesigning the website, and will be launching an iPad version in the summer. We use Instagram and Pinterest as ways of involving the reader more, but we want to make the Betty website a place where the reader can come back to, as a kind of community. We would like to feature more video content online. Do you have any advice for students wishing to have a career working within the magazine industry? Always strive for what you believe in. Also when starting a magazine, do not do something which has already been done, think creatively and you will produce something original. Don’t chase the competition, chase the dream.
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No. 118
Golden Years The end of an era is just the beginning of a new one Words: Aine McGrath
Whether you are twenty or eighty years old, our teenage years are supposedly the most significant we will ever experience; like a rite of passage, they connect the innocent with the adult through tantrums, questionable fashion statements and the urge to break every rule that stands in our way. So many landmark moments happen within the space of these 10 precious years, yet we sit there, fidgeting with anticipation to finally wave goodbye to teenhood, and say, “Hello, 21!” Looking back at my personal quest to become supposedly more mature has made me think and ask, “What just happened?” I have only just been freed of the ‘teen tag’, and as after every previous birthday, I feel no different now to how I did the day before. Everyone I speak to who turns 20 hates it, saying things like: “I’m getting old.” But in another 10 years time they’ll be eating those ridiculous words like a huge piece of
By my 13th birthday, I definitely thought I knew it all. Jelly and ice cream were still up there on my list; meanwhile my Mum began to mortify me. Boys became the only thing I could think about, and swearwords were so much more satisfying that regular ones. I couldn’t wait to be 16. I’d look in awe at the older girls with their colourful eye shadows, and the photos of them at the Jamesons’ house, drinking 4% beer and smoking cigarettes. Three years later and I had finally got to the place I wanted to be. I had the first boyfriend, I was applying more make-up on the bus so my mum couldn’t see and I had sneaked into the rugby club at least three times to get drunk. School was just a place to gossip with my girlfriends and wind up the teachers. Lunchtimes were often spent holding hands and heading up to the top field – not spending our lunch money so that we could go into town at the weekend to buy facemasks or get that extra piercing. Nineteen. A further three years down the line, and the light at the end of the tunnel had finally become a little clearer. Both drinking and driving all of a sudden lost their excitement due to the fact I was now old enough – and because I now had to pay to do both of them. I’d survived college (just about), a process that taught me more about myself than any lesson or lecture ever could. Mum was still relatively embarrassing, but no longer did her stories and advice bore me or end in arguments. My wings were slowly but surely beginning to spread and as quickly as it came, I waved goodbye to 19 and I hit the big 2-0. I now admit I find myself a little stuck; jammed in a place where I find some teenagers with miles more confidence than I ever had, getting away with things that I would never of even dreamt of doing. On the other hand, I have to talk to some adults with less common sense and social skills than myself. Twenty years of age; no longer living at home, making my own day-to-day decisions, single and having the best time of my life. I can’t help but feel overwhelmed at the concept of being older, as does anyone just after a birthday – but also very sure in the fact I would never return to my teen years. Obviously, I still consider myself to be very young. And for the first time I feel content with who I am, and who I want to become. What is it about those teen years that changes so much? It’s more than just physical and mental factors, I’m sure. And most of the time we don’t even realise the scale of our journey until it’s all over.
sickly cake. Thinking about my teen years makes me laugh, as well as feel a little teary remembering the awkward growing pains I experienced as I finally found my feet in this world.
My Mum once described teenage years like your first bikini wax: you go in feeling unbelievably uncomfortable, overly exposed and rosy cheeked – but once it’s over, you feel ever so slightly liberated.
Thanks, Mum. Maybe some things never change.
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No. 120
Life & sole GEIST presents a not-soeveryday tale of blood, sweat and bargains, straight from the shop floor
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I’m ready to put years of judo lessons into practice. My nails have grown, which I would like to say happened unconsciously, but I’ve planned this day meticulously for months now. My face is pressed against the window, and I’m sure my nose is fractured, but I don’t care. The crowd scream “come on, come on!” as the assistant appears with keys in hand. Counting my lucky stars that I arrived early, I realise I’ll get the best of the bunch. You may scream, but I’ll win. The assistant turns a whiter shade of pale as she scours the crowd, but this doesn’t worry me. She edges toward the door and turns the key. I get a sudden rush of adrenaline as I prepare to attack anyone who gets in the way of those shoes I’ve been yearning for. The doors swing back and, as the crowd floods in, the store assistant hits the floor. I hear a cry for help, but nobody seems to go to her rescue. I’m so overwhelmed and my brain can’t function. I feel like a ray of light is over me and an angel is singing as I spot my shoes. It’s destiny. I see two labels, one saying “size 7” and the other “50% off”. Emotions have intoxicated me so much so that my eyesight is blurry, or maybe I’m crying. It’s not quite an 8, but sizing is weird nowadays, so it’s basically an 8, right? Who cares, I’ve got them! I rush to the assistant and ask for the second shoe. She can’t seem to comprehend my excitement. The store is looking a little worse for wear by now, but the beauty of sales is that there isn’t any
WORDS: JAZMIN RICKARDS
shame in dropping to your hands and knees to rummage through the piles on the floor. I brace myself for the my-heart-just-fell-in-my-stomach feeling when you pay, but I’ve compiled a list of excuses that include “this is a Christmas present to yourself”, “this isn’t real money, it’s Christmas money” and “you deserve it” in case of an overspend. When I’m done, I feel euphoric walking out the shop. I see the line of men who are patiently waiting outside for their partners, loaded with bags and buggies. I don’t like the pressure of changing rooms, nor the odour. When I’ve finished trying everything on, I organise a returns pile. In that pile are the shoes. I sacrificed a lot trying to fit them on my feet, including my dignity. I tried various utensils and instruments, but they just wouldn’t budge. I washed my mouth out with soap and dried my tears as I prepared myself for the final farewell, but when it approaches I realise how unprepared I am. Later, I return to the store, which is now a far cry from the Boxing Day mayhem. There’s a middle-aged woman browsing, who thought she could cunningly avoid the rush. I shoot her a sympathetic smile because I know she won’t find much. I approach the counter and inhale deeply while I explain the situation. The girl can see I’m fragile but she rips the items and receipt from the bag, asks if they’re sale items to which I give a sharp nod. To my horror, she says: “Sorry, no returns.”
WORDS: HOLLY KNOWER
POSTCARD FROM THE PAST Sonnet, you and I had a relationship, one that no one ever understood. It felt as though it had taken me years to find you, as you had to be perfect in style, shade and size. The day I saw you I knew you were the one: ivory framed, upright handlebars with sepia speckled leather. Little did I know you were to be the love of my life. Spring was the season when we flourished, creating a show for those to see: me in a flowing maxi skirt, nude blouse and a secure wicker bonnet tight enough so it wouldn’t fly off while I rode. You always looked beautifully elegant. I used to place my Mary Jane into your pocket and we were away without a care in the world. Upright and ladylike, we’d glide through the hustling city taking in what we saw, observing those that used to stare. Your swept handlebars and lazy angles gave us the inspiration to explore new paths, drawing us into a private and intimate world of our own. I liked a seat with a view and that’s exactly what we had, wind flowing in my hair, clean air billowing through my lungs and remembering that charming gentleman who gazed our way. Wondering who he may be staring at. Was he looking at my companion? Yes, I agreed: she was ‘practically perfect in every way’. I would take to the saddle accompanied by a vintage tartan pannier securely fastened on either side to cushion my fall. You were servant to my life and my style. I was suitably clothed in a navy-wash harem trouser, fastened flush at my dainty ankle, capturing waves of movement, brushed cotton sweeping like a silk Hermès scarf on a breezy day. Neatly tucked into a fitted ‘Bonjour’ striped tee, worked with orange separated cork-wedge sandals securely placed in the pedal points, informing me it’s ‘style over speed’. The sense of pride you offered in your graceful appearance, regenerating the classical style. Tanned leather apparel suited your complexion, blemishes of tattered textile worn by friction. A wicker basket fastened ahead of eyeline, you served my lifestyle – holding my possessions and the occasional new purchase.
My lover, my maker, my breaker – an ode to my beautiful Pashley bicycle from I
DEAR… You wouldn’t recognise me now, but I am still accompanied by my vintage sepia saddle, now perfectly restored to cushion a petite derrière. Picture this: a mature Turkish green frame and leather apparel with polished rims perfectly suited for my character. I feel in the ‘nude’ removed of my wicker basket, the replacement being a tired handlebar bag: but is too much on show? You and me – we had good times; you kept me safe and dry. Exploring the streets of excitement in the bustling city. ‘Freedom’ is my middle name now. I live a retired life of country rides and daytime strolls, propping up wherever I see fit. You made me the being I am today and I will be forever grateful.
BLISS.
I will be forever grateful. 121
VISUAL COMMUNICATION
Crouch, Rebecca Gilbert and Claire Anderson
Laura Picarelli, Blane Chapman, Laura
ABOUT OU R COURSE
Explores creative, commercial and interpretive styling techniques and their applications to develop individual creative potential. Understanding of lighting and photographic technology and expanding knowledge is essential to succeed in creating contemporary, relevant and original work, and this is encouraged alongside developing skills in visual language, keen market awareness and individual creative vision.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION Encourages the abilities to create, plan, develop and execute creative projects while having keen consideration for context, market relevance and originality. In fashion and other lifestyle industries, students in this area can apply and develop their talents not only through journalism, but in publications, new media, project management, creative writing and beyond.
PROMOTIONAL COMMUNICATION Emphasises the importance of generating unique strategies to promote a brand to both the press and public in an ever-changing world where information is immediately communicated and technology develops at a rapid rate. This area examines, compares and encourages innovation in press 122
Images by alumni (clockwise from left)
Fashion Promotion is a commercially orientated portfoliobuilding undergraduate programme. This unique course offers the opportunity for innovative students to create and mould their own career paths, in turn shaping the fashion industry and the future of the creative industries. In the highly competitive fashion industry it is the events, the stories and the images around the clothes that create the trends, and ultimately the markets. Fashion Promotion takes fashion from the catwalk to the customer. The course revolves around three areas.
Amber Rowe, Hayley Buckle, Danielle Cuillo,
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relations, event management, social and professional digital networking, product placement, fashion film, runway and static presentations.
The course benefits from close industry links, with visiting lecturers from such companies as Doll, Mulberry, VB Victoria Beckham, Monsoon, River Island, Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Wonderland magazine, Tatty Devine, Karen Millen, Lulu Guinness, Surgery PR, Exposure PR, Modus PR, along with stylists, creative directors, film-makers, fashion photographers, leading bloggers and authors. The course also offers the opportunity to study abroad at one of our international partners and includes industry work placement within the curriculum.
For further information on the Fashion Promotion course at UCA Rochester, email fpinfo@ucreative.ac.uk
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No. 124
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GENERATION NEXT
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2 1 Nicole Allan PRO-CREATE ROCHESTER With a strong combination of ideas, skill and talent, Pro-Create Rochester is a product design collective hailing from UCA Rochester, launching at this summer’s New Designers exhibition. With products that diversify from furniture to medical care, there is a wealth of ingenuity offered by the designers at Pro-Create. I created their promotion, including looking after product shots and website build.
2 Rachel Butterfill BIKING IN HEELS Biking In Heels is a stylish girl’s guide to shopping in London by bicycle. It is a pocket guide, which provides a bespoke and interesting way to explore London with specific themed routes taking you around some of the best places to shop and cycle in the capital.
3 Daisy Coombes & Kiran Mahey THE PECULIAR GENT The Peculiar Gent is a coffee tablestyle guide to how all men can style themselves to be a modern gentleman. No matter what sub-culture they 124
GEIST highlights a range of third-year students’ final major projects. The future looks bright… represent, there is no excuse not to dress and act like a gentleman. After all, why do we always think of a gentleman as a 50-something white man, wearing a top hat and twirling a cane?
4 Meonette Essi NEUTRAL Born from a desire to change the perception of fashion publications, Neutral is an online magazine. Neutral draws on futurology and creativity as it goes about its aim to answer the questions what’s new and what’s next. Neutral aims to progress with technology and its audience, combining varied interests within the space of a visually stimulating online portal with a unique approach to user experience.
12 11 5 Emelie Hultqvist & Stelios Stylianou UN-CATEGORIZED Un-Categorized began from a personal urge to implement our aesthetic direction. It’s a blossoming process of creativity and expression in a variety of visual forms. As a freelance styling team we believe in interpreting the fashion zeitgeist through a variety of different sources referencing life, art, culture and design. We introduce you to a category of our own.
6 Holly Knower DEVELOPING VOICES Developing Voices is an inspirational handbook designed specially for firsttime students undertaking further educational courses within the
creative arts, offering support and guidance throughout their first academic year. It offers students a whole range of ideas and inspirations, while featuring visuals of other’s work, helping persuade them to develop their own individual working styles, thoughts and voices.
7 Matthew Redman NOTHING PAPER Nothing Paper is an online and print streetwear-inspired men’s fashion journal dedicated to the streets, fashion, art and culture providing a platform for new independent brands to sit alongside more established companies through shoots, interviews and features.
6 8 Jodie Rowan ANDROGENE Androgene explores the concept of a metaphysical male/female hybrid, whether it be a tangible notion, such as physicality, or a more obscure likened attribute. Androgene poses different ideas in written and visual practices, questioning gender and its connotations and representing the two genders as seemingly opposing concepts together as an entire actuality.
9 Hannah Smyth CURIOUSER I have created a magazine focusing on the nostalgic past-times and references typical of vintage lifestyle. This publication, titled Curiouser,
aims to be an inspiring and eclectic source of all things vintage for the discerning individual.
10 Bethan Soanes & Sarah Bishop THE NEW VINTAGE LOOK The New Vintage Look was a vintage-inspired charity evening we created that took place in April 2012. It showcased the best faux-vintage brands from around the globe, involving international renowned burlesque performers, unique cabaret acts and foot-tapping rockabilly bands. All money raised supported the Royal Brompton and Harefield Charitable fund to help improve the lives of patients with serious cardiac conditions.
For information on the graduating students featured here, or their projects, email editorial@geistmagazine.com with the name in the subject line
11 Rosanna Spain THE FASHION YLIAD The Fashion Yliad is a resource which gives fashion industry individuals daily news about the fashion industry and jobs within the industry. Each article has the social media fed into it.
12 Katie Stephens CHERRY HUMBUG Cherry Humbug aims to provide smart, sassy young ladies with lively, vibrant accessories in order to add a bit of glitz to everyday life. It offers a range of jewellery
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with a sense of fun. Because I don’t have just one passion, Cherry Humbug allows me to dabble in business, fashion, and all of the other different creative areas I enjoy working in so much.
13 Vanessa Thompson SEAM SEAM is a magazine that focuses on young creatives. The magazine aims to give a platform to emerging student and graduate work, specifically showing the multicultural creative talent in Britain today. 125
No. 126 We find out what recent UCA graduates have been getting up to since leaving Rochester
ALUMNI
I produced an advert and infomercial for a start-up company called FlatNav. Additionally, I am now tasked with photographing the locations which they host online. Most recently I secured an internship at an artist’s studio in London. Alongside both jobs. I continue to shoot fashion images for submissions. I am planning my first solo exhibition at the end of the year which will combine photography with sculpture, and I had my work exhibited at the Victorian Vaults on 4 May.
Natasa Leoni CREATIVE DIRECTION & PHOTOGRAPHER After graduating, the decision to dive into freelance photography was an easy one to make. I had refined my photography skills alongside my course, and after producing a fashion photography book for my final major project, my career path was clear for me. Freelancing allows me to experiment with all the options that photography entails. I was blessed with early success when my work was featured in an article on the Phoenix magazine blog and a campaign I shot at university was published in a number of European swimwear magazines. Since leaving university, my work, photographic aspirations and fascination for dereliction were covered in a video, hosted on the Fidgitbox website. This lead me to photographing an article for Made In Shoreditch magazine, which documented the work of street artist Swoon and her solo exhibition at the Black Rat Projects gallery. My next challenge soon followed when, as Creative and Filming Director, 126
Alexandra Groschopp SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER I’m from Mexico originally, though I am currently living in Canada. I had an amazing job when I left university and came back to Mexico. I was working as social media manager for a luxury hotel called The St Regis Punta Mita Resort. While I was there I was in charge of promoting the destination through Twitter and Facebook, and also managing their blog. I also organised an amazing fashion show with a benefit raffle for a local charity. I had to promote the hotel’s ambassador Jason Wu, who came in November. I also co-ordinated press and travel agent groups from Brazil, and I met the fashion director of Vogue Brazil and an editor from a famous fashion blog down there. It was a really good experience, and the skills I learned on the UCA Fashion Promotion course really allowed me to apply my creativity to the maximum.
specialises in sustainable DIY fashion. Her blog has gone from strength to strength, leading to commissions from The Times and TV appearances on Channel 4. First-year Fashion Promotion student Grace Wood had a chat with one of the course graduates. creatively and visually viable. In the future I hope to be able to have my own creative jewellery and millinery business, as well as seeing to all the visual merchandising and styling of each project.
and selling and also been able to use my creative skills from university to help promote the brand on social media sites, alongside creating a new spring/summer look book for the brand.
Tansy Stowell MILLINERY STUDENT After graduating in 2011 with my degree in Fashion Promotion in hand, I made it my mission to relocate to London, where opportunity in the industry thrives. I began by working for Topshop in the flagship store in Oxford Circus, where I took my Advanced Level book to be able to work further into the company and am still there part-time. Working part-time allows me to focus on side projects, including my millinery work, which I incorporated into my final major project in the third year of UCA. I have recently had some freelance jobs including pieces for customers for Ascot and weddings. I am also doing a short course at London College of Fashion in Millinery to further my skills. As well as this, I have started collaborating with another of my creative friends, in which so far we have designed and made an outfit for a music video, as well as overseeing the styling, and have begun a fashion business idea in which we sell jewellery that we create out of scrap and junkyard materials. I also help out at London Fashion Week on various stalls and backstage dressing, to enable me to understand the inner workings of the fashion industry. I have begun doing life modelling two times a month for an art group to gain confidence and aid others in their craft. Without all the visual and promotional teachings from UCA Rochester, I feel I would not be able to think logically about ideas as well as keep them
Jade Hudson VISUAL MERCHANDISER Jenna Morley MARKETING & MEDIA ASSISTANT Since graduating, I’ve moved several times and never settled down for long. After university I assisted stylist Russell Philip Peek for GT magazine, which included styling for a few hunks from BBC show Merlin and Frankmusic, an electro-pop singer. After a few styling jobs, I found a ‘gypsy’-style shoot which took my fancy and differed to my usual work. I styled ‘Bambi and the Tambourine’ with photographer Katie Eleanor, who has done some very beautiful dreamscapes. I am now living in Hackney, London, with university friends and doing an internship as a marketing and media assistant with vintage brand ‘Bird on a Wire Vintage’ which is stocked mainly on ASOS marketplace. Buki Fadipe runs the brand on her own and is expanding with a new website very shortly and needed some extra help to make the brand run smoothly. I have gained some good inside knowledge about buying
After studying at UCA and graduating I felt confident that fashion and PR was the way I wanted to go forward with my career. I interned at InStyle magazine, which was amazing as I got to see behind the scenes of a large fashion publication as well as the ins and outs of a fashion wardrobe and photoshoots. After this I went on to Office footwear, where I met some amazing people and developed my PR skills and learnt a bit more about the job role. I really enjoyed my time at Office and got on really well with the team. After my time there I decided to try out a PR company rather than an in-house PR team. I applied for a position with Instinct PR and hit it off with the team straightaway. At this point, however, I was beginning to feel like I belonged in a more creative, hands-on job, rather than the office-based planning work I was doing with the PR companies. So I made the decision to take time out of interning to get a job in fashion retail and re-ignite my love for fashion and lifestyle companies and products. I have always loved visual merchandising, and I constantly shuffle
things around at home until I like how they look. But I had never seriously considered it as my career path until I realised how I felt about PR. When I chose to take a job at the new Cath Kidston store opening up in St Albans I worked extremely hard to ensure the shop looked its best at all times and was a place in which customers would enjoy shopping. My hard work and persistence was quickly noticed by the management team who within one month had appointed me as their in-store VM. This summer I have been selected to go on the Cath Kidston tour. I am a brand ambassador for the company, as well as the VM for the whole of the tour, which involves setting up our tour bus and pop-up-shop at each different event we visit. For the three months that I will be away I will be visiting festivals and fairs all over the country promoting our stores and products. I will be working alongside the team specially selected for the tour, such as the CEO of the company and the events managers.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND? I’m 24 years old and currently live in Canterbury with my boyfriend and our very lovely cat. I graduated from UCA, Rochester last summer, where I studied Fashion Promotion, and am now a freelance writer. DID YOU EVER BELIEVE YOUR BLOG WOULD BE SO SUCCESSFUL? Definitely not! I was blogging quite happily to nobody at all for about two years, and then I started to gain a following and get invited to fun events, which was great. WHAT FIRST GOT YOU INSPIRED BY DIY FASHION AND CREATING YOUR OWN DIY TIPS? When I first started using the internet, I used to read Livejournal forums dedicated to ‘T-shirt surgery’ (cutting up your tees to turn them into pretty tops or dresses, etc). I loved the idea of transforming clothes without having to use a sewing machine. This inspired me to think of other easy ways to rejuvenate my own wardrobe without needing any sewing skills. YOUR FEATURE ‘TUESDAY TIPS’ PROVIDES A WAY TO SUSTAINABLY UPDATE YOUR WARDROBE. CAN YOU SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE TIP WITH US? That’s a tough one! I love most of them, but one of my favourite projects was turning old leggings into pretty hair bows. I seem to get through leggings really quickly, so finding ways to recycle them makes me feel a tad better about having to buy them all the time! HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOUR ‘TUESDAY TIPS’ WERE PUBLISHED IN THE TIMES? That was a very proud moment for me. I didn’t realise it was going to be a full-page feature with a giant picture of me in the centre, so that was very surreal to see. YOU FEATURED IN THE CHANNEL 4 SHOW SUPERSCRIMPERS: WASTE NOT WANT NOT, CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS? Endemol contacted me after seeing my blog. I agreed to take part and have now featured in both series. It is truly terrifying being filmed and knowing that millions will see it, but it has been great fun to share my mantra with the nation – it is easy to look stylish on a shoestring when you know how. DO YOU PERSONALLY BELIEVE DIY FASHION IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE FUTURE OF FASHION SUSTAINABILITY? Personally, I’m not under any illusions that DIY fashion will save the planet, but I think creativity is something that should be encouraged, and I am proud to play a part in inspiring people like me who aren’t technically skilled but still want to customise.
Gemma Royston-Claire graduated from UCA Rochester Fashion Promotion in 2011. Throughout her course, she continued her blog, Gem Fatale’s Style Blog (gemfatale.blogspot.co.uk), which
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR CAREER HEADING IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? I don’t know about five years, but in the next year I hope I’ll continue to be a successful writer and still be enjoying blogging on the side! Shortly after this interview was conducted, we heard that Gemma had landed her dream job with Company magazine. We wish her all the best for the future. 127
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